What I Did This Weekend

We had a very big weekend. Here is a list of some of the highlights.

* My parents, my brother and his wife, and my nephews came to visit. So good to be with family. I wish we lived close enough to see them every week!


* We celebrated Christmas. My incredibly generous brother and sister-in-law brought us presents so we wouldn't have to haul their gifts back to Georgia after real Christmas in Utah. Eddie got some cute new pajamas and his first coloring book. We got some much-needed silverware. Eddie enjoyed unwrapping the gifts.


* We fed the ducks. There is a little lake with ducks less than five minutes from our house. My nephew, Kyle, loved it. Every time the ducks ate a piece of bread, he would exclaim, "They love bread!!". Eddie is really brave around the ducks. He almost walked right into the water several times.
He would hold a whole piece of bread. He would sometimes eat the bread himself. Other times he would break off little pieces and throw them to the ducks. We had a lot of fun.


* Ben and I had our second wedding anniversary. I hope to post about this soon.


* We bought a car!!! It is a '99 Toyota Corolla, black with 87,000 miles and really cold a/c. We are so happy to be car owners again. We feel really blessed.


* We said goodbye to William, my brother, who is being deployed to Iraq on Wednesday. He has been told to plan on being gone for fifteen months. This was the reason for my parents' visit. It is really sad. We are thankful we have prayer, faith, and hope.

It was a big weekend!

The Most Interesting Thing to Ever Make it Into Our Toilet

Eddie loves putting things in the toilet. I keep the bathroom doors closed unless I am in the bathroom. As I get ready for the day, I keep one foot at all times on the toilet so Eddie can't get into it. He is really smart and fast, though. He is always on the ready for any brief moment when I may move my foot, even if he seems totally engrossed with another activity. Today he managed to deposit in the toilet the empty icecream container he has been playing with all week. I saw him going for it, but I didn't rush to stop him. I didn't think it would fit or that he would be able to manage holding the seat up while dropping such a big item in. I was wrong, and we took a picture to prove it!

Eddie Loves His Daddy

Out of every bad thing comes something good. We got in a terrible accident, and we wish it hadn't happened. But Ben has been home 100 percent of the time, and Eddie has grown so much closer to him. Eddie is still a mama's boy, but he spends a lot of time with his daddy now.


Eddie loves to be read to. He used to ask Ben to read to him occasionally. Now all day long Eddie is sitting on daddy's "lap" listening to a story.


Yesterday Ben was throwing his many pillows at Eddie, burying him in a pillow pile. Eddie loved it.


Randomly throughout the day, Eddie will go up to Ben and give him a hug, lean his head on his lap, or just touch him. You can see in Eddie's eyes how much love he has for his daddy. It has definitely grown over the past month or so.

Eddie gently touching Daddy's new hard cast. He is really gentle when touching Ben's "owie" (no, that isn't blood; Ben actually chose a red cast. He didn't have a lot of choice, apparently. We are so excited for the hard cast. It means Ben's flesh wound is healed, and that he can start getting up a little bit. He still needs to be cautious, though.).

I am not sure what we will do when Ben starts going back to school and having homework to do at home. We love being together!

Prayers

Eddie has been bowing his head for prayers since before he was one. Two weeks ago he folded his arms momentarily during our prayer for the first time. He hadn't done it since until yesterday. Ben and I were just talking to each other. Eddie had been playing when, all of a sudden, he was folding his arms and bowing his head repeatedly. He even tried to say the word "pray". We said a prayer because of it and then took a picture!

Daddy's Birthday Package

Sunday was Ben's birthday. Yesterday he received a birthday package in the mail from his mom. Eddie was really excited about it. You can see in this picture how eager he was for Ben to open the box.

Not so interested in the card.

Opening a present for Daddy.

Diapered Bears

This morning Eddie wasn't really interested in wearing a diaper. However, he liked his bears to wear them.

Key Crazy

Eddie has been into keys lately, real ones and play ones. Every time he finds a set of keys, he takes them to the door to pretend to lock and unlock it.

Hooded Edison

A cute picture of Eddie in a hooded shirt.

Chair Tipping

Eddie has been into pushing our chairs over. This morning, after tipping a chair, he tried pushing it around. Somehow he got his foot stuck under one of the legs. He continued to hold onto the chair, pushing his weight down on the chair and ultimately hurting his foot even more. He cried out, and I helped move the chair off his foot. I gave him a hug. These days when he stops crying after getting hurt, he returns to the scene of the accident to point to whatever hurt him and talk about it. He was very upset when he was talking about it. So I shook my finger at the chair and said, "No, chair. Don't hurt Eddie." He proceeded to shake his finger at the chair and say, "No, no." He continued to point to all the chairs to tell me to tell them not to hurt him. It was very interesting!

Some Cute Jam-Jam Pictures

Last night I was reading Eddie a book that said something about touching the sky. I reached up high, and he copied me. Every time we read that page, he did it again. He kept turning back to that page in order to do it.


Eddie loves brushing his and our hair. He brushes with his brush, our brushes, and forks (I guess Scuttle wasn't the only one confused about the purpose of the "dinglehopper".). Every time we brush hair I repeat the words from a Helen Oxenbury book, "Squelch, squelch in the mud. Splish, splash rub a dub. Gently, gently brush your hair. Tickle, tickle under there!" So we often refer to brushing our hair as "squelch, squelch"ing.

Church Shirt

Edison wore his first long-sleeved, white, button-up shirt to church yesterday. He looked so handsome. I didn't expect that he would like his new shirt, but he did. He was standing in front of the mirror as I was putting it on him. As soon as his arms were in, he smiled and shrugged his shoulders up to his chin and held it, like he was posing. After he was dressed, he kept returning to the mirror to admire himself. As he would walk away, he would look down at the shirt on his arms. What a cutie!

Bouncing on Bear

You know that inappropriate-looking Luvs diaper commercial where the one-year-old is bouncing on a big teddy bear? I thought it was so inauthentic because what one-year-old would come up with that idea on his own (which is actually my biggest pet peeve-authors and commercial, tv, and movie writers writing kids doing and saying things they never would)? Well, mine!!! He's never even seen the commercial (I have seen it online.). He got out his bear. He sat on it. He bounced. He laughed! It was cute.

Picture from September 24, 2007.

Our First Big Mess

Something tells me it won't be our last. He had PB Cap'n Crunch for the first time the day before. He got so smiley at each bite. This day we had already had some for breakfast. I went to the bathroom, leaving the cereal in the middle of the table. When I came out, it was all over the floor! He usually loves to help me clean up. This day he helped by stuffing his mouth with big handfuls of cereal.

Picture from September 24, 2007.

Eddie loves to sit with his back against something. He will sit on the floor against the wall and straighten his back and smile. He will sit against a laundry basket and do the same thing. He will sit on the bed with his back against the wall and do the same thing. He loves to sit in chairs. This particular day he loved it so much that he let himself slip down the chair as he kept his back completely straight.



Pictures from September 23, 2007.

Flashlight Fun

Eddie discovered a flashlight for the first time last Sunday. He turned circles following the light around. It was so funny. I wish I had it on video.

Picture from September 23, 2007.

High, high, high!

One of Eddie's new favorite games is to have us throw his ball high up in the air. He came up with the game and explained it to us by handing Ben his ball and pointing to the ceiling. He loves it!

Picture from September 22, 2007.

Little Climber

Eddie has become quite the little climber. He especially likes to climb over and around me.

Pictures from September 21, 2007.

Vacuum Crush

Eddie's new favorite toy is the vacuum. He has always been so scared of it. Now he is fascinated by it. He used to not be able to touch it. Now everyday he spends time touching the vacuum in the closet.


Eddie trying to get into the closet. He is on his tiptoes. I am surprised he can almost reach the doorknob.



Getting pretty mad that I am not opening the closet as fast as he thinks I should.


Touching the vacuum.

Pictures from September 21, 2007.

Phewf! Glad that's over.

Wednesday was Ben's big surgery day. The doctor had to reconstruct his heel. The doctor said that his heel bone was literally in one hundred pieces. He used the few pieces that were big enough to use. Then he used metal plates and screws to make a new heel bone. It was a very difficult and laborious surgery for the doctor. He was very pleased with the results, though. Ben came home from the hospital yesterday, which overwhelmed us a little. Our couch isn't as comfortable for Ben as the hospital bed. It is easier for me to take care of him here, though (the hospital wasn't so childproof for Eddie). Ben's in a lot of pain, but we are really relieved this is over. Now all the healing he is doing is working towards a permanent healing. It is going to be a long road still (at least two weeks where Ben can't get up at all; four more months on crutches; then physical therapy for who knows how long), but "phewf!". We made it through our first surgery.

Our Own Little Can Opener

I had some cans of food and the can opener on the table. Eddie immediately pulled the cans to him and grabbed the can opener. He proceeded to open the arms of the can opener and put the can opener on top of the can. He even started twisting the knob! I had no idea he would know how the can opener was used or what it was for. Kids are smart; they learn so quickly. He also picked up the butter knife and hit around the top of the can. This may have been a coincidence, but we do that on jars before opening them in order to break the seal. I am amazed every day at how much Edison knows.

Starting to Take Pictures Again

Lest you think I love my son less than I did before, I am going to try to get back to posting regular pictures of li'l Eddie B.


Our favorite family snack lately has been these really juicy, plump, red grapes. Eddie loves to pick each grape he eats right off the vine! It is really cute!


I took some cute pictures of Eddie when he was coming to get me. This is how he looks when he is just walking around. Also, you can see how nicely his neck abrasions are healing. I guess I should post a picture where his injury is more obvious, so you can compare.


Two days after the accident. It was hard to get "good" pictures of Eddie's neck.


A sweet picture of Eddie asleep in his swing. He didn't like his swing until he was maybe eight months old. Now I wouldn't live without it. He asks for it every day at naptime, and many times he falls asleep in it.

Car Crash

Ben, Eddie, and I were in a serious accident Friday afternoon. I just went to the wrecking service to remove our items from the totalled car. I was shocked to realize how blessed and protected we were. The photos really don't do it justice.










I am so thankful we are alive and well!

Feeling Invigorated

Real quick. I just wanted to say that I feel really invigorated. I left Eddie with Ben tonight so I could go to a baby shower (it's only the fifth time I have ever left him, and the first time over "goodnight time"). It was fun to just be able to do whatever without him (like have a plate of food to myself). I felt really great, especially, when leaving the shower. It was dark outside (it's been a long time since I have been out past dark). I was alone (I had forgotten how that feels). I could just hop in my car without buckling in a kid or worrying about the million things I need to have with me when I have him. And when I got home, he was actually asleep!!! I didn't think that would happen. I told Ben that I could want to do this more often.

It is bittersweet, though. I miss my little guy. Ben told me all about the night, and I felt sad that I wasn't the one to put Ed to sleep. It is good for me, Ben, and Eddie, though. Especially for me! Goodnight!

CPR Saves Lives

For Family Home Evening last night (we took Labor Day off), we learned CPR. We had a video and a freaky looking fake person that the video kept referring to as MiniAnn. She (?!?!) freaked Eddie out at first. Eventually Eddie began practicing the breathing and chest compressions with us. Here are some fun pictures.

Eddie intently watching me practice the breathing on MiniAnn.


Halfway through the video, Eddie brought us his bear to practice on. Here you can see me doing the chest compressions on bear while Eddie is pinching his nose. Pretty smart of him to pick up on the pinching nose portion of the breathing component, I thought.


Here's a cute picture of Eddie and our survivors, bear and MiniAnn! All because we learned CPR!

Photo Album

Yesterday Eddie actually showed interested in looking through his photo album. I have tried to show him it before. This was the first time he actually turned the pages himself and really looked at the pictures. He especially liked all the pictures with balls, balloons, and his uncle Kaleb!!

Zoo Atlanta

My brother, William, and his family came to visit this weekend. On Friday we went to the zoo. Eddie absolutely loved it! It was so fun to see his reactions to everything. I just wish my sub-par pictures and videos could capture the experience.

Here is a shot of Eddie and his cousin, Kyle, looking at the elephants.


This bird excited Eddie more than any of the other animals.


There was a petting zoo. I thought Eddie would be scared of the animals, but he walked right up to the goats, sheep, and pigs. Sometimes I had to pick him up and move him out of the way of the goats, who would have just run over him. At the beginning of his time there, he reached out and quickly touched all the animals around him. He was so fast that I wasn't able to get a picture. I did take a video of him brushing the animals' hair, though.
The video is currently not working. Check back later. Hopefully it will be here!

Eddie loved riding the carousel. He got a little nervous, though, when he started moving up and down. He still wanted to ride it a second time!


The train was also fun, although the lengthy, dark tunnel scared Eddie and his cousins.


He really liked bouncing on the elephant at the playground.


You can't tell from the picture, but Eddie really liked sliding. This was the first time he has reacting to a slide.