Just us.

Summer Fun

2011-07-01T12:27:00.003-07:00

Summer is here and I am enjoying it much more this year than I did last year. Of course I was pregnant last year which makes it less fun anyways but I feel like I have been taking advantage of the water activities more this year. We have gone swimming a couple of times and played in the sprinklers too. Both boys just love the water in any form!

Elliott has been trying lots of new foods and so far I have been really good about making my own food and have not bought any commercial baby food (other than cereals). He loves to eat as I am sure most of you can tell from his massive rolls.

Elijah is, well, a baby abuser. It's not easy for me to admit that but it's true. He loves to pinch, pull hair, smack, push, pull, poke and even sit on babies. This was one of the more pleasant sitting on moments for Elliott.
Pulling the ears....ug.

Today our Elliott is 7 months old. I can't believe how much faster the time goes with a 2nd child. I don't want to loose my precious baby.

Evidence of the massive rolls, oh how sweet they are.
At 6 months he was in 75th percentile for both weight and height. He is not crawling yet but rolling everywhere and pushes himself backwards while on his tummy on the tile. He does rock when he is on his hands and knees. Some of his favorite things to play with are the remote controls, cell phones and Ipods, much like his brother. He also likes the toy drum and Elijah's fire truck. He is unimpressed with most baby toys.

My nephew Dade is living with us right now. He is a happy kid full of stories........so many stories.......oh the talking! I am not used to having a child talk in my ear ALL DAY LONG. It can be exhausting but I would rather him talk to me than not at all so I am thankful for that. I don't have any pictures yet but I am sure I will soon enough. For now his favorite things to do are watch tv, play video games and play computer games. He is all boy...

...but I sure do love my boys.

We are still going!

2011-05-03T12:55:00.009-07:00

I just realized it has been 5 months since I updated our blog. That is really pathetic but I am finding it hard to do it as often with 2 kids, speaking of, both boys were awake when I started writing this and now Elliott is crying. I didn't even get two sentences typed before duty called. I don't know how moms with multiple kids make it through the days. I struggle with having two. I am not very adventurous and I am somewhat of a homebody so getting out of the house is not an easy task for me.

Anyways, the boys are doing great! Elijah is F-I-N-A-L-L-Y walking. I have been praying for this for a long time and was beginning to think it might not ever happen. He has been physically able to walk for awhile now but just chose not to until one day it just clicked and from that point he would just walk everywhere. He is delayed in a lot more areas than walking/gross motor but since he started walking I feel like everything else has started to blossom with him. He is communicating better, listening to instruction better and is playing more intentionally rather than just throwing toys around. Although walking comes with a new set of challenges, I am elated that we have finally arrived at it. I had to come to the realization that I have a child who is developmentally delayed, which was hard. I always just told myself that he is just not walking. But the reality was that he was not doing a lot of things that were age appropriate for him. In general right now, Elijah is still in the 12-15 month range of what he is doing. I contribute my struggle with motherhood sometimes partially to his delays. It just makes the normal craziness that much more crazy. He is currently still receiving physical therapy once a week and speech assistance once a week for a month. Just in the last week and a half he has learned how to communicate when he wants more, needs help or is all done with something to me. Makes for much less whining! He is sleeping in a toddler bed now which he likes although it means more work for us.

Elliott on the other hand is doing things right on schedule if not sooner! I am in awe at what a normal child can do. He is 5 months old and can roll over and pretty much sit up on his own (things that Elijah did not do until he was at least 9 months). He is a big guy, 80th percentile for weight and 50th for height. He is a really happy baby, giggling all of the time. He is not sleeping through the night yet which is something that Elijah did do early on. I am still trying to figure out why he is waking up every night, sometimes multiple times. I just started giving him rice cereal a couple of days ago hoping that might help him make it through the night, it has not worked so far.

Since my last post we have celebrated Elijah's 2nd birthday and Tony and I's 5 year anniversary. Of course I have pictures to share and I am sure that I say this every time but these pictures are not really in any order.

Elliott sitting up all on his own.

First bites...

Elijah on his 2nd birthday.

At his cousins birthday party, thought this was a cute picture.

We did make it to the Zoo in March and I thought this picture was funny. It was the prairie dog exhibit and this little guy was standing tall on the sign representing the prairie dogs!

Tony and Elijah feeding the giraffes.

Our "family picture" (maybe we will get a real one soon).

Typical scene for Elijah, a basketful of toys and candy but instead he is playing with something that he shouldn't be.

Sometimes he does not sleep in his new big boy bed...

This is a picture of my sister-in-law Rachel and I and alllllllll of the kids attempting to eat lunch together, it's pure madness.

"Whazzzup?"

Elliott's Birth Story

2010-12-06T13:02:00.003-07:00

The fact that I am updating my blog after having a baby only 6 days ago is a testimony to how blessed we have been by God! Our little Elliott is a miracle (as all babies are) and the best Christmas gift I have ever recieved! Here is the story how he entered this world....

On Monday November 29th I had my weekly doctor's visit. I got the usual check and was told that I was only 1 cm dialated and that was a stretch. I had been checked two weeks earlier and had not made any progress. I was feeling pretty discouraged about that. My doctor informed that she would be out of town that Friday through Tuesday but had another doctor that she trusts filling in for her. She offered to induce me that week before she left if I wanted to. I thought for just a moment and said no because going into labor naturally is better right??? I went home and talked to Tony and told him that I could've been induced but chose to just wait it out. He was surprised and said "Why not induce, you are miserable?". And he was right....I was having really bad pains in my hip joints that made it hard to walk not to mention the back pain that I had the whole time and just general discomfort of being pregnant. So I called my doctor back and told her I had changed my mind and before I knew it I was scheduled to go in the next day to be induced. On Tuesday, Tony and I arrived at the hospital around 10 pm. The nurse checked me before starting any meds and I was already 2-3 cm. Around 11 pm she administered the first set of 3 gels used to "ripen" my cervix. Right away I started having contractions, they were uncomfortable but bearable. She said that my doctor offered a sleep aid because induction can be a long a process and the gels are supposed to take around 12 hours. I went ahead and took it knowing exactly how tired I would be if I didn't sleep. After getting the sleep aid (which I found out later was Ambien) kicked it, I was pretty much out of it for the night. I had no clue when the next few things happened as I was in and out of sleep but at some point they gave me some kind of pain reliever and the second set of gel. Then my contractions got really intense and were coming every 2-3 minutes. I was still really groggy so I would actually dose off in between contractions but once they started I was awake again and having Tony rub my back. I knew my nurse was scheduled to come back at a certain time to check me again but I couldn't wait, I needed my epidural. Around 5 am the anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural. Tony and I both fell asleep after that. A short time later my nurse comes in and said she was putting me on oxygen and checked me again. She said the bag of water was bulging but I don't remember what she said I was dialated to. I remember feeling an incredible amount of pressure like if I pushed hard enough that the baby would just pop out. After a few minutes on oxygen my nurse had me turn on my side then she turned me again. I was still not sure why all of this was happening and was too sleepy to ask. A couple of minutes later they broke my water and my nurse tells me that my doctor is on her way but that the hospital doctor was coming in because it was time to push! The doctor came in, got suited up, told me to push twice for 10 seconds long and that was it, Elliott was out at 6:36 am. The doc did her thing with the baby, turned around to hand him off and before she could turn back the placenta just fell out. It barely made it into the bucket. That is a detail that I am sure you could live without but it is important to the story so bear with me. I remember the doctor saying that was not supposed to happen and that she would be sending it to pathology (who knows what that means). During this time Elliott came out not breathing on his own so they had to help him out a little. Within minutes he came started breathing and did not need to put on oxygen. I got to hold him for a couple of mintues before he was moved to the NICU. I found out that his heart rate had suddenly dropped and that is why they put me on oxygen and started turning me. They could not get it to go back up and that is why we could not wait for my doctor (she showed up about 10 minutes after he was born). The placenta at some point had become detached, they think it happened as he was coming out. They said that had I not been fully dialated and ready to push that I would have been rushed to the OR for a C-section.....scary! Also, had I not chosen to be induced and that happened at the same time then who knows if we would even have our little Elliott! God totally protected him through all of this. He spent a couple of days in the NICU for precaution but did exceedingly well with everything that was required of him. I am so very thankful for him and for my God who continues to amaze me with his goodness.

Elliott Samuel Nave
Born 12-01-10 at 6:36 am
6 lbs 5 oz 18 inches

September and October

2010-10-27T10:46:00.006-07:00

September and October have been busy months but I really don't know why. I quite working and Tony had surgery on his foot in September but that was pretty much it for us, nothing exciting. And October just flew by, I have no idea where it went! I am currently 34 weeks pregnant and feeling very anxious. I really don't enjoy pregnancy, some woman do but I am not one of them. I know that the longer this baby cooks the better but I find myself daydreaming about him coming earlier than expected, which means he will probably be late! I know I am not that large but I am large for me and I am getting uncomfortable. In addition I am still carrying around a 25lb almost 21 month old. Elijah is still not walking. He is so so close though. We are currently in the process of having an akle brace made for his right foot because he does not seem to use that one properly. I am hoping that will just him the boost of support he needs to take off! Although he is not walking, he makes up for it in personality! He cracks me up and melts my heart with his big smiles.

Elijah loves to climb and to get into things. He not only found a way to get around the baby proofing on the cabinets of our entertainment center but once he got them open, he broke them. He then emptied out the cabinet and climbed right inside. This cabinet now remains permanently empty and is one of Elijah's favorite past times.

With much convincing on Tony's part, we decided that it was time to give Elijah his first haircut. Of course I did it myself which was not exactly easy but the clippers helped with that.

This is before his haircut

And after...what a big boy!

Brushing his new do!

Elijah loves to empty out things, buckets, baskets, drawers, bags...whatever! Sometimes things inside are hard to reach but he always finds a way!

Tony and I don't get out and date much.....it's just the way it is right now. But we finally decided to splurge and go out and it just happens that we didn't have a babysitter that night so Elijah went with!

We found this italian restaurant in Queen Creek that we liked and had huge pizzas!

Back in June, Tony bought me tickets to go see Jack Johnson in concert! I have never really been to a big concert like that but was thrilled to go. I went with my friend Michelle as she is a big fan too. The concert was on 10-10-10 and it was a blast! This is before the concert. I love how Elijah is in the back around climbing on the laundry basket.

Hi Jack!

Elijah loves to climb on the couch and when we allow him to do it (with supervision of course) he likes to go right to the best seat in the house, grab the remote control and pretend to be Daddy!

I took this picture this morning of Elijah just typing away! He cried for 10 mintues after I pulled him off the keyboard. He was not happy and made me pay for it!

August

2010-09-12T17:10:00.003-07:00

The month of August was busy. My sister in law and I had a combined baby shower and we had so much fun. People went above and beyond blessing us more than we could ever have imagined.

While opeing presents we were both extremely hot so this is us fanning ourselves.

Cutting the cake with all of the kiddos waiting patiently to eat it.

It was so cute and sooooooo delicious!

Our nephew Dade also came to visit us in August and we thoroughly enjoyed having him with us. We did a lot of different things but for some reason only took pictures at home.

This is him and Elijah playing with a very noisy ball popper that remains stored in Elijah's closet for that exact reason.

Elijah giving him a massage.....

This kid has a smile to die for!!

Dade flew to Arizona all by himself from Virginia and on the way there, the captain let him go in the cockpit and he took a picture and emailed it to me!!

Dade is quite the artist and it did not take him long to start decorating our walls (with drawings on paper of course).

Elijah is turning into one silly kid. He is still not walking although we are getting closer every day but he is a climber! And he gets into everything! Anytime I go somewhere, I feel like all I do is chase him around and don't really get to enjoy being out. I know this period will soon pass but I think it is extra hard on me because I am pregnant.

I am pretty sure that he makes this face because he sees his father do it.

Elijah spends a lot of time at his Aunt and Uncles house and he has found a liking to this lovely pink car! He still has not mastered how to climb in and out but with a little help he makes his way to the drivers seat and has a blast.

Another silly smile.

June

2010-09-08T15:27:00.006-07:00

For those of you who saw my facebook post, you know that I was considering deleting my blog but apparently people actually read this thing. I have not updated it in so long and there are so many things to add so it will take awhile but I am working on it.

This is what happened the month of June.....we went to San Diego with some family. While we were there we went to the beach, Sea World, San Diego Zoo and went to a couple of restaurants featured on the Travel Channels "Man Vs. Food". I had fun but the trip was hard since I was not only pregnant but was dealing with a lot of back pain and a child who is not walking yet.

This is Elijah being cute at Cracker Barrell on the way home

Walking on the peir at Seaport Village

Eating at a BBQ place that I can't for the life of me think of the name....their onion rings were popular so we had to try them.

Haylee and Elijah had fun together on the trip and had some really cute moments.

My monkeys

Waiting for the whales to start their show

Hand holding while waiting for Scott, Tony and Rylee to finish their ride

After a very long wait, I finally tried a Clam Chowder that I actually liked at World Famous!

At the hotel on the first day, very happy!

Elijah was freezing his little baby butt off at the beach while he swam with Dad but it didn't matter because he loved every moment of it.

Thats the end of the San Diego pics. We also celebrated Fathers day in June with a BBQ at Tony's parents house. I decided to be creative and make these hamburger cupcakes for the Dads. They even came with sugar cookies fries which did not make the picture.

Elijah and I also joined my friend Jeanne and her daughter at the new aquarium in Tempe. Elijah liked to watch the fish. My favorite thing was the shark that followed the fish around the whole time.

Thats it for June..................

Sick May

2010-07-10T08:30:00.002-07:00

The month of May is a bit of a blur to me. Not only was I sick the entire month with morning sickness but Elijah was sick for a couple of weeks with pneumonia. It was probably the most beautiful month of the year in terms of weather and I did absolutely nothing. Elijah did really good considering how sick he was. Here are a couple of pics of him doing his breathing treatments.

Family Photos

2010-07-10T08:16:00.003-07:00

In April we got together with Tobi Hancock who richly blessed us with beautiful family photos. We never really had one year photos taken of Elijah so thought we would just combine them. They turned out really cute and although I was feeling kinda queasy the whole, I survived. Thanks Tobi for all your hard work!

2010-07-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

Another Nave is on it's way

2010-05-04T15:30:00.005-07:00

About three weeks ago Tony and I discovered that I was pregnant. After some convincing from Tony I went to the store and bought a pregnancy test after having some symptoms of pregnancy. I really didn't think it was possible but the tests proved otherwise. We did not plan this but we are thrilled. Of course the idea of having two children seems crazy to me right now and we will have to adjust our lifestyle and change some plans yet again. Having a baby is a big deal and having a baby when you were not planning on having one seems like an even bigger deal. So we (mainly me) are still trying to adjust to the idea of it but are so excited because we know that every baby is a precious gift from our glorious Creator. So far this pregnancy has been almost identical to the last one, complete with morning sickness and all. I am 9 weeks along and due on Dec 6th (Merry Christmas to us!). Most of my days right now are spent lying around feeling guilty for not having the energy or desire to do anything. The evenings are way worse than the mornings and from around 4-5 I start counting down to bedtime because that means I will actually get some relief. Tony has been amazing, he helps me out, he runs errands and picks up food and most of all he takes care of Elijah so I can be a blob. Thank you husband. It is still weird to think that Elijah will be an older brother, yikes!

Besides the fact that Elijah is sick again, he is doing good. He is a champion crawler now, he pulls up on furniture and he can say dog! Well it's more like "Dah" but he knows what it means and he points to the dog when he says it.

Little Monster

2010-03-25T15:13:00.003-07:00

When I get ready in the morning (or afternoon depending on the day!), I put Elijah in his pack n' play right outside the bathroom. Every once in awhile I look behind me and see this:

And it cracks me up!!

Random stuff

2010-03-17T16:35:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I met an old friend of mine and her family at Prospector park for a picnic. It was such a gorgeous day and it was a lot of fun. There was a bunch of people there and it kinda surprised me. I thought it was going to be quiet but it was just the opposite. I even witnessed an old man fall out of a tree. He was hanging by a skimpy branch like a monkey and the branch broke. He was fine but I have to say that it was pretty funny! And apparently he lost his hearing aid when he fell. It was something that you would see on America's Funniest Home Videos.

I have known Jaymi for around 14 years! I can't believe that much time has gone by. In a nutshell this is Jaymi, her Mom, her Grandma and her kids. These people might as well be my family.

Also, yesterday was the first time that Elijah crawled!! It's about time. Somehow his Uncle Mike got him to start doing it by holding his phone up instead of putting in the ground for him to get to. I don't have a video to upload nor do I have the patience to wait for it to upload (still have never successfully uploaded a video on blogger) but that night when Elijah went to bed I went in to check on him and he had his butt up in the air and was sound asleep. Not sure if that has anything to do with his new skill of keeping his butt up but it was so cute that I risked waking him up by taking a picture.

Elijah can be really quirky at times......for example, he has this activity table that he somehow keeps getting stuck under and it's quite funny.

I'm so in love with this child and am throughly enjoying being his mother. He must get kissed and hugged hundreds of times a day.

Baby gates are made for...

2010-03-10T09:41:00.003-07:00

....FUN, apparently.

Tuesdays

2010-03-03T09:56:00.002-07:00

On Tuesday evenings, Tony and I babysit our neices in exchange for babysitting services on Sunday evenings. I try to get creative with them so they don't just come and watch TV. So last night I had them bring some sidewalk chalk and we went to town. The girls drew their whole family and we made chalk outlines of them and even Tony joined in and drew a picture of a "hallway"......

Here he is thinking it through....

Then here he is showing Rylee how he can walk down the hallway.

After we were done drawing with chalk we decided to swing for a bit, which turned into awhile.

They had fun swinging together.

Haylee and Elijah are so cute together.....they kept giving eachother hugs and kisses (little did I know that Elijah would wake up that night with a bad cough....sorry Haylee!!)

Resemblance

2010-02-23T17:42:00.003-07:00

This is me when I was almost a year old and Elijah around the same age....if you ask me, he looks a lot like me as a baby. On the other hand, I have never seen a picture of Tony as a baby so who knows.

4 Year Anniversary

2010-02-18T13:30:00.002-07:00

Elijah's first birthday party

2010-02-18T12:55:00.004-07:00

Elijah's first birthday party consisted of the usual, opening presents, eating cake and visiting with friends and family. It also consisted of throwing up, diarrhea and a diet of pedialyte and bananas. It was good but not great and I definitely won't forget it. Hoping next year will be a little more successful.

New Smile!

2010-02-09T10:58:00.003-07:00

I am finally done with all of my orthodontic work! It feels so good to be done and I am very happy with the results. No it didn't go as I originally planned but it's done and that is all that matters. Here is a little timeline of everything that happened:

June 2007 - Had surgery that included, removal of two baby canines, exposure of two adult canines, SARPE (surgically assisted rapid palate expansion) and removal of two wisdom teeth.

July 2007 - After widening my palate I had a full set of braces placed and they started the process of pulling down the adult canines.

March 2008 - Had a second surgery to re-expose the adult canines that were not budging.

October 2008 - Had the expander removed

January 2009 - The oral surgeon decided that it was not likely that those adult canines would ever come down so he suggested I consider implants after Elijah was born.

April 2009 - Had the adult canines removed and had bone grafts done

September 2009 - Had two dental implants placed.

January 2010 - Had the implants uncovered, some tissue relocated, had the braces removed, impressions made for the crowns and on January 28, 2009 I had the crowns placed!!

It is important to me to remember the process involved so that I don't take it for granted and it taught me that some of the most rewarding things arrive by a process and not instantly. Thank you Lord for your patience during that time!! Here are some before and after photos...hopefully you all see the difference as much I as do. I still have a few loose ends to tie up but am so glad to finally be at this point.

Cute Moments

2010-01-02T20:48:00.002-07:00

Elijah's cuteness factor seemed to double in the last week or two and because of our new camera, I was able to capture some of those sweet moments.

I like to think that Elijah is our little lover boy, he likes to snuggle and play with my hair. This is a picture of him getting fresh with his Uncle Scott. So cute!

Playing in a box!

Trying out pizza (don't worry, he only nibbled on it for a short second to catch a picture)

And this is a new bathtub that I bought Elijah although I am taking it back because I still like my other one better but he had fun because he got to play in the water. He doesn't have much hair but I was able to give him a mohawk!!

Elijah's First Christmas

2009-12-28T09:22:00.006-07:00

Christmas was fun and quiet. Elijah got a ton of presents and of course his favorite was the wrapping paper! He liked to eat it.....

He was really happy with all of his new toys....

This is Rico, Tony's parents dog. He is so sweet and gentle with Elijah and they became buddies.

Christmas PJ's!

This was the other day.....right after dinner. I loved seeing all of his teeth coming in....they seem so big!

Elijah still is not crawling but he rolls around and pivets to get wherever he needs to go. He has also figured out how to open the cabinet doors on the entertainment center....yay for us! He is very proud of himself.

An update, just because

2009-12-22T10:26:00.002-07:00

It has been ahwile since I updated. Not much is new for us and I don't have any specific "event" to blog about so I am just throwing a couple of pictures up. Elijah is now working on his fifth tooth which happens to be his first left top tooth. He got the side ones in first. This picture shows off his little snaggle tooth.

This picture came out a little too bright but says it all to me. This is Elijah playing with his cousin Haylee...and boy do they like eachother. Haylee loves Eli and she makes him laugh. They are so cute together. I hope they grow up to be good friends.

Elijah is also rolling all over the place but has yet to crawl. Here he has found the dog bed (gross!) so of course I only let him play there for just long enough to take a picture.

I thought this year we were safe from having our kid pull ornaments off the Christmas tree but somehow Elijah made his way over there and started to unravel the garland, little stinker.

And lastly, Elijah's first picture with Santa. Although as parents we will make sure that Santa/presents is not the focus of the Christmas season (but rather Jesus), I still wanted to capture that classic shot with Santa Claus for Elijah's first Christmas.

Other than that, Elijah is actually sick. He has a cold and is coughing and really congested. It breaks my heart but he is one tough guy.

Baby in a basket

2009-11-23T08:47:00.002-07:00

Little Froggy

2009-11-06T12:21:00.002-07:00

This Halloween I dressed Elijah up as a frog. I spent $8. I wanted him to look cute but didn't want to go all out as he can't trick or treat or really even enjoy Halloween yet. But I think he looked adorable especially for having surgery on his eyes only 3 days prior to that.

We went over to my sister-in-laws house and then walked with them while they took their girls trick or treating. They were so cute....here is Rylee, Elijah and Haylee (a girl skeleton!!).

Tony stayed home and passed out candy and didn't get a lot of kids, which I find odd because our neighborhood is full of them.

Our family picture.....

I just wanted to throw this pic in because I thought it was so cute. Elijah's eyes are looking so much better. We never realized how bad they were before.

A new way of carving pumpkins

2009-10-28T14:59:00.003-07:00

On Saturday Tony and I decided to carve pumpkins for the first time together. I have never carved anything out of a pumpkin besides the traditional triangle eyes and nose version so I was excited to finally do that. I picked somthing that I knew would be easy though for my first time.

While we were busy carving, Elijah sat at the table with us and played with his toys....and so did I. I was having fun putting things on his head.

And the final result......

Tony's Darth Vader pumpkin (hopefully I spelled that right). I was done in about a 1/4 of the time he was. And had he not taken a short cut then it would've been even longer. Any of you who know Tony well, know that he is the type of guy that will find a way where there is no way so while he started carving his pumpkin with a small $0.99 pumpkin carver from CVS (free after Extra Bucks!!).....he finished it off using his DREMMEL!! So not only are Dremmels good for little household jobs and applying acrylic nails but carving pumpkins too!!

So here are our masterpieces.......you can see why mine didn't take too long.

On a side note, Halloween is not for another two days and I just put the pumpkins outside to throw away because they are already growing mold. Note to self: Do not carve pumpkins a week before Halloween.

Who says you can't play dress up with boys....

2009-10-20T08:24:00.002-07:00

...even if the only thing you can dress them up in is a hat!

I love this little guy....

Hanging out with friends

2009-09-30T10:27:00.002-07:00

On Monday Tirsa and Keith came over to hang out. Keith liked to push Elijah around in the walker. I tried to get some better pictures but the kiddos did not cooperate very well. But it was fun and I was happy to get to catch up with Tirsa.....

Happy Eater

2009-09-10T10:30:00.003-07:00

Time off

2009-09-04T11:52:00.003-07:00

Tony had a couple of days off this week so we decided that despite the nasty weather we would get out and do something. So on Wednesday we took a drive on the historic Apache Trail. It was kinda crazy! There is like a 20 mile stretch that is just dirt road and sometimes only one lane on the side of a mountain. It's was crazy to see vehicles stuck on the side of the mountain and peoples names spray painted on the guard rails. But it was pretty and a nice drive. We stopped at Apache Lake and ate a picnic lunch then headed home through Superior (the less scary route).

We did put our feet in the water and it felt sooooo good! I wished that I had been prepared to swim and had stuff for Elijah because it was so nice in the water.

Tony dipped Elijah's feet in the water and it almost startled him but he liked it.

On Thursday we went to Joe's Farm Grill for lunch. I loved it! It was such a nice area! And they had grapevines growing on the fence which I thought was the coolest thing. I know, I'm a nerd.

This was the first time that I sat Elijah in a highchair. He could have used a bit more padding but I just put a blanket behind his head.

My almost 7 month old

2009-08-27T09:52:00.003-07:00

It's hard to believe that Elijah is already half a year old! Where did the time go??!! At his 6 month well baby check up he weighed 17 lbs 6 oz which was in the 50th percentile so he is catching up. He has now had a variety of fruits and vegi's and he has liked them all so I can't say whether he has any favorites. He has one tooth and is working on a second. He can sit up without help for on average of 10 seconds or so and has no desire to roll from his back to his tummy. He is a good baby and a silly one.

Some of the things he likes are:
-toys or anything he can chew on
-sleeping on his Daddy
-his swing
-riding in the car
-his pacifier
-being on his changing table, he gets all giddy almost everytime

His dislikes are:
-being on his tummy
-having his face wiped (especially his nose)

Sometimes when he naps on Daddy, Tony gets a good nap too. It just seems unfair (but I'm not complaining =).

He takes his bathtime seriously and like I said before loves to chew on anything so don't even think about taking the duck away!

On the verge of falling over...

He is our little Cardinals baby since I went into labor on the day of the Superbowl but I think he decided that he didn't want his birthday to be associated with the day the Cardinals lost the Superbowl so he came on the next day instead.

On a future note, Elijah has some hard things coming up for him. On Sept 29th he will have an MRI to look again at his brain and also his right ear since he has no hearing in that one. Then on Oct 28th he will have surgery on his eyes to correct the muscles which are causing his eyes to cross.

First Tooth

2009-08-05T09:59:00.002-07:00

Elijah is getting his very first tooth! It starting coming in a week before he turned 6 months. He has been handling it very well with only a little bit of fussiness every now and then. Of course he is drooling like mad and loves to chew on anything! I am both excited and a little nervous about this because well, having teeth means biting. Ouch!

My Boys

2009-07-30T19:55:00.001-07:00

First spoon fed meal

2009-07-22T08:57:00.008-07:00

Although Elijah is not quite 6 months old yet, I felt that he was ready to start having some practice runs at eating with a spoon. He did so good! He sat up in his booster seat really well and would open his mouth and swallow the rice cereal.

I decided to protect our chair by covering it with towels and stripped down Elijah so I would have less clean up!

I love those baby rolls!

He started getting distracted and would try to eat the bib.

He finally got tired of sitting in his seat and decided he was going to let us know just how he felt!

Road trip to Colorado

2009-07-10T11:07:00.009-07:00

We just got back a couple of days ago from visiting our family in Colorado. Elijah did great considering it is a 14 hour drive. On the way there he did not even fuss until the last 15 minutes. What a blessing that was! Here are some of the highlights:

Everyone except me and Tony's mom went Whitewater Rafting along the Arkansas river in Buena Vista.

This is all of the Grandchildren on Tony's side of the family. From left to right, Tade, Avery who is holding Elijah, Rylee and Haylee (the cookie monster). So cute...

Elijah and his Grammy Nave

On July 4th after it poured down rain, they lit a campfire and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores....mmmmmmmmmmmm

Even though it was still sprinkling, the fire continued to burn

Rachel feeding Haylee a s'more

On Sunday we went to visit my Grandmother, my Aunt and my Uncles. Grandma loves Elijah!! He got kissed, hugged, squeezed, rubbed and chewed on!

This was taken at a little farm house cafe called O'Briens

This is Elijah's first time meeting his Aunt Trisha and she did a great job and getting him to smile.

Trisha's daughter Avery absolutely loved Elijah. She always wanted to hold him and she would sing to him, he liked that. She was very motherly towards him.

And lastly, this is Elijah sitting in his stroller without the infant carseat!! He is growing up so fast and in makes me sad although I am excited for what is to come.

Soon to be a sitter...

2009-06-30T14:20:00.003-07:00

Lately Elijah has been lifting his head. Today while Tony and I were eating lunch and Elijah was in his swing he looked like he was trying to sit up more and almost looked like he could almost fall out if he was not strapped in.

So I decided I would try to see if he could sit up on his own with the help of the Boppy and sure enough he did! But only for a second.....

Father's Day

2009-06-21T07:41:00.002-07:00

Elijah's ear

2009-06-08T19:00:00.003-07:00

Today we took Elijah to see an Audiologist to do a hearing test. This was actually his second full hearing test (not including the 3 hearing screenings that he had done prior). The result was consistent with the findings of the other 4 in that he has no hearing in his right ear. Since he was born with this it really won't effect his speech development, etc. He may have a problem localizing sounds especially in noisy enviroments. They would like to do a follow up test in 6 months to see if anything has changed and also will be referring us to have some genetic testing done. We have also been to an Ear, Nose & Throat doctor who noticed right away that his eyes are not symetrical and since the Ears and Eyes are connected, he referred me to a pediatric Opthamalogist. Several people have mentioned that it looks like he has a lazy eye sometimes so hopefully between all of these appoinements and tests they will be able to determine a cause for all of this. Other than that, Elijah is a perfectly healthy little baby boy. He is so much fun and brings me such joy!!

Last week a friend of mine came to visit and stayed with me. I taught her how to play Canasta and she picked up on it so quickly then completely dominated me a few times.....I'm still wondering if I got hustled. =) Here is Elijah enjoying Danielles company.

For Fathers Day (I know it's a bit early) my sister-in-law Rachel and I took our kids to JC Penney and had some photos taken for our Father-in-law (who likes motorcycles and has a Harley). I thought the pictures were so cute even though Elijah was not having much fun. There was only one shot with him in it that was good. You can't see it in the picture but he has a tatoo on his arm, what a tough guy!

Tummy Time

2009-05-30T16:49:00.003-07:00

Elijah is getting better and better at being on his tummy although it is not his favorite thing to do. Here is Elijah and Daddy getting some practice in...

One of my favorite things in the world...

2009-05-23T16:26:00.001-07:00

...is to see this guy smile!

Sleeping through the night

2009-05-18T06:57:00.002-07:00

I think our little guy is ready to move to his crib now. He is sleeping through the night (Wahoo!) and is really good at going to bed around the same time every night. Even if he is still awake I can usually put him down and he will eventually fall asleep on his own. He is still sleeping in his bassinet except for an occasional nap in his crib. I'm ready to move him but I like having him right next to me. Maybe I will wait for his cold to pass and then I will at least try it. I love this picture cause it looks like he is drunk and passed out, a little too much milk maybe....

Tony's Graduation and Mothers Day

2009-05-14T07:59:00.004-07:00

For Mother's day we went over to Tony's parents for lunch. Marcia loved on Elijah almost the entire time and he just soaked it up! He also got to spend time with his other Grandma over the weekend, my mom. She babysat for us on Saturday while we went on a much needed date. We went to the Yard House at Desert Ridge.

This is a picture of our Iris' in the back yard, the blooms are so beautiful that I had to post it.

Tony graduated on May 1st from Phoenix Seminary. I am so proud of him.

Buddies and a couple of things

2009-04-25T11:19:00.004-07:00

As I was doing my meal planning the other day, I had Elijah hanging out on the floor in the office and Zulu decided to take his nap right next to him. When he layed down his head, he was right on the top of Elijah's head and they were snuggling, I think they are becoming buddies although Zulu is still a little too large to play with Elijah. Maybe in a few years......

We are so thankful that Elijah LOVES his swing. He almost always goes down in it without a fight and will play or sleep in it for long periods of time.

We have started to read to Elijah everyday and although his attention span is short, I think he enjoys it.

Easter

2009-04-14T16:49:00.003-07:00

Easter was great! Elijah got to spend time with both of his Grammy's at the same time! We went to his Grammy Nave's to hang out in the beautiful Arizona desert.

This was how Elijah looked in the morning before church but as you can see he didn't like his hat too much. We will try that one again in a couple of months.

Hanging out with Dad...

My mommy and me (Rylee decided that she was going to be in the picture too, she is so funny)!

Baseball season

2009-04-10T15:49:00.003-07:00

In light of baseball season, I decided to dress Elijah up one day in his Nike getup that his Grammy Nave bought him. I thought he looked so cute and grown up!

Elijah's first photos

2009-04-03T15:33:00.001-07:00

I had these taken when my Grandma was in town. Elijah started out awake then he got mad and cried and then he fell asleep. I thought the one of him crying was cute so I ordered one! =)

Visit with Great-Grandma

2009-03-23T13:32:00.003-07:00

Last Wednesday my Grandmother flew in from Colorado to meet her great-grandson for the first time. To say that she was thrilled is understatement. She absolutely adored Elijah and spent most of her time just snuggling and talking with him. She left this morning and I think he is going through withdrawls! It was wonderful having her here and the last five days was filled with stories from my heritage and lots and lots of love! Things couldn't have gone any better.....

One month old

2009-03-08T19:12:00.002-07:00

I'm about a week late posting this but Elijah is now a month old. I can't believe how fast that went by. He weighed in at 10 lbs 7 oz at his doctors appointment which put him in the 90th percentile for his weight. He has also started to smile, first it was from gas but tonight he actually smiled at me while I was talking to him in my high pitched baby voice. It melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes. The love I have for him totally overwhelms me.

This isn't the greatest quality picture but I just love it!

These are the one month old pics that I took, as you can see he was not very happy that he was being photographed!

Sweet baby

2009-02-26T09:56:00.002-07:00

I'm in love...

He holds his head up really well, even better than what this pictures shows!

Pics of Elijah's birth

2009-02-18T09:36:00.003-07:00

I think most of you know the birth story by now so I won't repeat myself by posting it here too.

Here are some pictures of Elijah's birth, they are in no particular order mainly because Blogger is not allowing me to move them for some reason. Errggg.....

Elijah's first car ride

Elijah Wayne Nave, 2-2-09, 2:27 am, 8 lbs 0.2 oz, 21 inches

Contractions!!

Quick Update

2009-02-08T17:41:00.004-07:00

This is not much but I just felt the need to update my blog. Elijah will be a week old tomorrow and I already feel like time is flying. He is the most precious thing I have ever seen, he is my little prince. I will post more later about the birth and all of that but for now here is a pic of our sweet new addition:

7 days to go!!

2009-01-25T08:07:00.003-07:00

As I was looking at my blog, I glanced at my pregnancy ticker and noticed it said "Only 7 days to go" and all I could think of was, WOW. Seven more days. That's nothing and yet it seems like FOREVER right now. Even though it could still be more than 7 days, I feel really really close. Every morning I wake up and wonder, why didn't have this baby already??? Not that I am complaining. I understand that he will probably be a better sleeper and eater because he has not arrived yet but I just want to see my baby's precious little face already!!

Photos by Tobi!!

2009-01-19T07:23:00.005-07:00

Yesterday we received our pictures from our photo shoot with Tobi. She did an AWESOME job and we couldn't be happier with the way they turned out. Thanks Tobi!!!!!! There are so much more but here is just a few, hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

The room is ready!

2009-01-11T16:36:00.003-07:00

Last week my two friends Tirsa and Erin threw me a baby shower at church. It turned out really well and I was really happy with the people that showed up and the gifts I received. Thanks ladies!!

After the shower I went on a shopping spree to Babies R Us and purchased the rest of things that I thought we needed before Elijah comes. I spent the rest of the day washing, cleaning, clipping, folding and organizing and it was a lot of work! Over the weekend Tony helped me by putting up the wallpaper and the wall decals. The final thing I wanted to do was to put his name on the wall so Saturday night during the Cardinals game, Rachel and I headed to Joann's to pick up everything. I was quite pleased how they turned out.

I can't believe how close we are to his arrival. I feel ready now. I am working a couple of days for the next two weeks which should help pass the time. It's hard to think that in a matter of days our lives will completely change forever.....a change that I am looking forward to.

A quiet Christmas

2008-12-26T07:11:00.004-07:00

This year we had a pretty quiet Christmas, which I honestly can't complain about because it was amazing.

My mom came over and spent Christmas eve and day with us and as always we had fun.

Zulu got a new bone for Christmas from his Grammy....

....which he then tried to bury under the tree.

Thanks to Tony's parents, Tony and I were able to buy eachother gifts this year at the last minute. We were not originally planning on doing that. So Tony got me EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!! A diaper bag!! See how cute it is!

And here is our family picture, I feel like I am starting to look huge now.....oh man, it's getting close!

Baby Shower #1

2008-12-08T10:50:00.006-07:00

On Saturday, my sister-in-law threw me an awesome baby shower! I had so much fun and I loved every little bit of it....she did a great job!! Thanks Rachel!!!

The theme of the shower was jungle animals for the decor and cupcakes for the sweets! I fell in love with this giant lion balloon, he is so cute.

Rachel's Aunt came up with this idea, the doll is made from a receiving blanket.

My house was transformed into party city! It looked so awesome!

We played some super fun games and ended up laughing our heads off at one game in particular, which I don't seem to have any pictures of.

Here is everyone trying to draw my silhouette on a paper plate on top of their head.

And this is me trying to pick the best one....some of them were just outrageous!

Opening presents...........handmade booties and blanket from Rachel's Aunt Denise, she made Eljiah the most gorgeous baby blanket with yarn that is made from recycled milk cartons. I LOVE it!!!!!!!!

So pretty!

Eljiah's room will be quite the jungle with all of the animals that are slowing filling it.

And here is the cake! It's a giant cupcake cake and Rachel made two. They were so cute and exactly what I had in mind when I picked it out. Oh and they were pretty tasty too, I had two pieces.

This is the woman who made it all happen, Rachel.

Me, Marcia (Grammy Nave) and Rachel

Me and my mom (Grammy Cave), like Mother like Daughter huh?

What a fun day!!

*On a side note, can I just say how much I HATE blogger's way of uploading pictures.....it's so annoying.

Baby Face

2008-12-02T19:59:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T09:55:00.003-07:00

We are back from Colorado and we had a great time. We didn't do anything special, we just hung out with family and relaxed. I am really thankful for my family and Tony's family. God has richly blessed me in that area. We did not take many pictures but here is our "Family Picture".....Tony had to hang the camera from a tree to get this one!

It started snowing Friday night and this is what we woke up to on Saturday morning.....you can't ask for a better view from the bedroom window.

Finally...

2008-11-21T13:29:00.002-07:00

Free time

2008-11-13T13:32:00.003-07:00

Since I have quit working, I have found lots of things to do with my time so far. I am thoroughly enjoying my time off. I know it may not always be that way so I am taking it all in right now. Tony and I have started on Elijah's room. Even though we still have quite a ways to go here is what we have done so far.
Tony painted the entire room in a day, what a nice husband he is!

We will put a wallpaper border above the brown that matches the bedding.

Other than working on the room, I have had more time to play with my friends so yesterday Tirsa and I went to a couple stores and one of them was Barnes and Noble. I found a book there that I have been looking for FOREVER! It is a Dr. Suess book that is meant to be read to your unborn baby. I know that may sound silly to some but I thought it was super cute and helps you bond with your baby. Plus, they say that the baby can respond to it so I tried reading it to him this morning and sure enough he wiggled around the entire time! I don't know if it had anything to do with the book but I was having fun with it. Tonight I think I will have Daddy read it to him.

Other than that, I have hit the 7 month mark and thought I would post my belly progress. Some people seem to think I am small but I feel just right.

Hit by the creativity bug

2008-10-29T19:21:00.002-07:00

I made these tasty little treats a couple of nights ago. They are supposed to look like cupcakes but I don't really think that they do. They were pretty good though.....

24 Weeks

2008-10-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

Hey, I'm finally starting to look pregnant!

New pictures of baby Elijah

2008-10-07T18:59:00.001-07:00

Fountain Hills

2008-10-04T13:21:00.002-07:00

Last weekend Tony and I followed Scott and Rachel up to Fountain Hills. It was a really nice day and it was not too hot in the shade. There is a very cool water area for kids to play in! I even wished I had worn my swimsuit so that I could play too.

Here we are in front of the giant fountain

Tony and Scott both went down the slides then starting dancing, it was quite strange.

Tony trying to have fun on the fake tire swing

Being silly as usual

More recipes

2008-09-28T16:20:00.004-07:00

For those of you who like to bake (or stir) and asked for the recipes of the things that I made at the Potluck, here they are:

Pumpkin Fluff Dip

Chocolate Pretzels

Ice Cream Roll Cake

2008-09-26T20:13:00.004-07:00

For those of you who asked about the Ice Cream Roll that I made for Tony's birthday, here is the recipe. The credit goes to Tony's mom, Marcia.

Marcia’s Ice Cream Roll

4 eggs
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup Bisquick Mix
½ cup baking cocoa
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar
½ gallon of ice cream (your favorite flavor)
1 jar Hershey’s chocolate fudge topping

Preheat oven to 350°.

Line a medium cookie sheet (apprx 13 x 9) with wax paper and spray sides with non-stick cooking spray.

Beat eggs, add salt, pancake mix, cocoa, sugar and vanilla. Mix well.

Pour batter into cookie sheet and knock down to remove bubbles and even out.

Bake in preheated oven at 350° for 10 minutes. Do not cook too long or will be difficult to roll. Cool for 2 minutes in pan then knife around the edges to loosen the cake.

Take a large flat dish towel and lay flat on countertop. Generously sprinkle with powdered sugar and rub in, repeat once making sure to cover the entire surface. Invert cake onto dish towel and remove wax paper. Sprinkle top of cake generously with powdered sugar and rub in, repeat once. Roll up cake starting with shorter side with dish towel and cool on countertop for about 10 minutes (do not cool completely).

While cooling, soften ice cream in mixer or with hand mixer until it is creamy and spreadable.

Unroll cake and spread ice cream on it with spatula, it’s ok to use your hands if it does not spread too easily. Roll cake back up (this part is a little messy) and wrap dish towel around the outside and freeze for 3 hours.

Remove cake from freezer and pull off dish towel. Cut a thin slice off of both ends to make clean cut edges and frost the cake with the chocolate fudge topping (do not heat up first). Place cake on plate and put back into freezer until ready to serve.

And it begins

2008-09-21T08:38:00.001-07:00

The accumulation of baby stuff has begun. We just bought the bassinet and isn't it so cute! I can't wait to see our little boy sleeping in it!

The perfect diaper bag

2008-09-11T19:39:00.005-07:00

Ok so I am new to diaper bags but when I started thinking about what I wanted I had a few requirements. I wanted one strap because with two one is always falling off and I find that very annoying! I wanted a messenger style bag but without the giant flap over the front of the bag that you have move out of the way everytime you want to get inside. That too is very annoying! It needed lots of pockets and needed to be a good quality that would last me a long time. After doing a lot of research I found MY perfect bag:

The maker is Ju Ju Be and I LOVE their bags. The one I want is the BeTween in Brown/Robin. It runs about $100 and can be found at a couple of stores here in town. Check out some of the cool features that all of their bags come with. This bag has everything that I "think" I would like in a diaper bag. They also have a forum where they give a diaper bag away each week! There is a different theme each week and you just submit your entry and you could win. This weeks theme is crockpot recipes, how easy is that! I have already registered and submitted my entry this week. Plus you get some great crockpot recipe ideas. Just thought I would share that with all of you mommies!

Faith

2008-09-05T15:50:00.002-07:00

From even before this pregnancy God has challanged Tony and I to have more faith and to learn how to trust in Him in everything. Today we got to see our baby and it was incredible. I could've watched that screen all day long. We found out we are having a baby boy (add another one to the RMCC list). As excited and happy we were to be there we also recieved some not so great news. The doctor told us that she was concerned with the babies brain. She said that the third ventricle in the brain was filled with fluid when it shouldn't be meaning there is a drainage problem. This could be caused by a bigger problem or that could be it. Either way, we are going back in 4 weeks for another ultrasound and then a couple days later for an MRI. This is not the kind of news that anyone wants to hear but I am trusting in God and putting it completely in His hands. He has carried me through this far and I know He will continue to do so. Please keep us and our little boy in your prayers. Our hope is that at the next ultrasound that the doctor does not see any fluid in the ventricle (meaning she wouldn't even see it on the screen) or that it at least does not fill up anymore. Here are a few pictures of him:

Arm

Boy =)

Touching his knees to his face

The BIG ultrasound is...............

2008-09-02T10:25:00.002-07:00

..........this Friday at 8:45!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'M SOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somebody is poking me from the inside...

2008-08-29T10:03:00.001-07:00

Actually someone is kicking me but it feels like poking and it is simply amazing!

Our backyard is done!!!

2008-08-20T12:42:00.002-07:00

It only took 2 days and we are soooooo happy with it:

This deck will eventually have patio furniture on it:

The company that we went through is Esteban Land Design www.estebanlanddesign.com. They did a very good and professional job.

16 Weeks

2008-08-18T10:54:00.003-07:00

Yesterday marked 16 weeks into my pregnancy. It was exciting because I feel like I have so much to look forward to. I am still waiting to feel my baby move inside of me and of course we are coming up on finding out the gender. I am feeling much better than before and my appetite and energy have increased.

Pregnancy has definately been harder than I expected and has taken a small toll on Tony and I. I am still learning how to deal with everyday life when I don't "feel good". I can't say that anything could have prepared me for pregnancy ahead of time because you never really know how it is going to affect you. But I am still thankful for this baby and am starting to understand just a little bit why God wanted us to wait awhile before getting pregnant.

On a side note, we are finally getting our backyard landscaped and we are very excited about that too!!

I'm growing out my hair!

2008-08-11T10:26:00.004-07:00

I am done with having short hair! I found a picture of myself about 8 months after I got married and my hair was the longest it had ever been. I remember hating it back then but I think it looks pretty darn good in the picture, what do you think:

Colorado

2008-07-22T10:30:00.005-07:00

We are back from Colorado, we ended up cutting our trip short by a few days. It was good to come home, I was surprised at how much I missed it. Anyways, I did a terrible job at taking good pictures but here is what I have:

This is what we said goodbye to in AZ the day we left, I was bummed to miss the monsoons.

Zulu came with us and he choose to sleep on the console most of the time, I thought it was cute.

At CB&Potts the day Scott discovered the amazing pretzel and cheese dip.

Brothers goofing off in the lake, I was sitting on the shore with a giant wet dog.

Me and sweet little Avery hanging out.

Tony holding a tarantula at the Butterfly Pavillion, he was the only "big kid" in line.

Sporting his "I held Rosie" sticker proudly.

I just held my hand up there for comparison.

This pictures makes me giggle. All of God's creatures are beautiful right?

And finally, this is on the balcony at the Nave parents home, what a view.

I also got to visit with my family, which I didn't take pictures of. But my Grandma sent me home with lots of goodies which I love! I will have to scan some old pictures she gave me and post some on here.

Favorite pictures of Tony

2008-07-07T11:20:00.009-07:00

Since nothing eventful has gone on in the last week, I thought I would go back through my pictures and post some old ones just for fun. As I was looking through them, I realized that Tony has had some great pictures taken of him that really show what type of person he is. Here are a few of my favorites:

Doing what he does best, fixing things

Being super silly

Getting into his hobby

Experimenting with new styles

Having fun in the snow and wearing it

Just being creepy, the ski mask really helps with that

Anyways, I love my husband for his great personality and have a lot of fun with him!

My very first blog

2008-06-30T10:07:00.004-07:00

Hello everyone!

I made a blog in anticipation of our new baby expected to arrive somewhere around February 1st. I am not sure that I will have much to share until then but why not start now right? Pregnancy is going almost as planned besides a little bit of a scare in the beginning. The morning sickness kicked in good and strong at 5 1/2 weeks and is still lingering.....not to mention all of the other kinda gross symptoms that I will not be sharing with you. I feel like I have not really been able to enjoy pregnancy yet as I have felt yucky almost the whole time. But we are still excited and can't wait to meet our sweet little baby. Here are some early pics of our baby at only 7 weeks and 5 days old: