Eli and Noella

We have way more pictures to post on the blog lately. Since we got our new camera, we have a lot more fun taking pictures. Eli's cousin is visiting right now. She's 4 months younger than Eli, so here are some family pictures.
Eli, Noella, Grandma and Grandpa Robinson

Playing at the pool

Eli's got a girlfriend!

So Eli hasn't had to much contact with other babies and when he does, he generally treats them like any other inanimate object that he likes - gets excited and bangs his fists on it, slobbers on it, tries to eat it (or him/her) and when he gets bored, steals the other kids toy and crawls away. Generally this frightens/angers other babies and I spend most of my time pulling Eli off of the other kids, who are now crying. However, we've met 1 exception - my friend Katelyn has a little girl that is a month younger than Eli. Eli is big for his age and generally towers over other kids his age (making it all the easier for him to sit on or steamroller other children - another favorite past time). However Kamrynn (my friends daughter) is also tall for her age and is just as big as Eli. She is also the first baby who is not just going to sit and cry while Eli steals her toys and smacks her, so watching her play with Eli is pretty funny. If he has something she wants, she will steal it back. If he tries to walk away with it, she throws her arm around his waist, pulls him to the ground and gets it, since she can't walk after him. Yesterday I watched her WWF wrestle Eli to the floor for a Kix. Katelyn and I laughed so hard we cried.
Here are some pictures from their play date today.

Eli pummeling Kamrynn.

Kamrynn stealing his toy.


More toy stealing.

Kamrynn

The Elephants Upstairs

Last year when Isaac and I were apt. hunting, it was May, incredibly hot, and I was 7 months pregnant. As I hauled my enormous body up the stairs to look at apartments, sweating away, all I could think was that I really didn't want an upstairs apt. I was imagining myself trying to carry a baby, stroller, groceries, etc., up a flight of stairs to our apt. and I didn't like the picture. Luckily we got a downstairs apt., which hasn't been to bad. We have occasionally been annoyed by our upstairs neighbors being loud, but overall we haven't had to much to complain about. Until this week. Our neighbors moved and we now have new neighbors who may actually be related to a herd of elephants. I spend all hours of my days and nights listening to what sounds like someone tap dancing all over the apt. with concrete blocks strapped to their feet. Usually I wake up to Eli howling for me at about 7 AM. The last 3 days I have woken up to what sounds like someone rearranging all of their furniture at about 6 AM (and this is after listening to a nighttime of concrete tapdancing, which usually stops at about 3 in the morning). So I am now beginning to regret the downstairs apt. I am considering starting an Apt. Etiquette newsletter with tips such as:
Pick up your feet when walking
Don't wear high heels on the tile floor from 10 PM to 8 AM
Avoid stomping your feet, especially if you are over the age of 10

****Disclaimer: Isaac just looked at this post and called me mean. Let me clarify - I am in not referring to size here! I haven't even seen or met the neighbors. I am only saying that they sound like elephants!

Just some pictures

Eli in an enormous flip flop.

Eli and Isaac - thanks to Sunny for passing on her old backpack carrier to us so we could haul the Wookie around with us.

Good Times Part II

Here are some late pictures from my favorite hike.

Summertime

Isaac, Eli, & I went swimming tonight at his Aunts. Isaac had a lot of fun with our new present from my parents - they gave us their old camera, which is an great upgrade from our old camera. It is so clear you could see every drop of water in the pictures, which Isaac loved and it takes pictures really fast, which I love (since my personal picture-taking philosophy is to point and shoot about 20 times as fast as I can. I figure that way 1 of the many shots will be good). Anyway, here are some of the pictures.


Goggle Head



Eli and Grandma Robinson

My Wookie Part II

You asked for it, you got it. Play the video and decide for yourself whether Eli sounds like a Wookie, Ewok, or, as someone else suggested, an under water Spanish lesson.

My Wookie

So Eli makes this funny little sound constantly. Kind of like the sound you make when you are learning Spanish and trying to learn how to roll your R's. It's a little different, but you get the idea. Some people say he sounds like an Ewok (from Star Wars) and some people have said he sounds like a Wookie (also from Star Wars). I actually couldn't remember the difference between the 2, but a girl from the mall, who told me she was a Star Wars Fanatic, explained that Chewbaca was a wookie, the fuzzy short guys were Ewok's. She also said that as an avid Star Wars watcher, she could undoubtedly say that he sounds like a Wookie, not an Ewok (no, I did not go up to random people and ask them if the weird noise my son makes reminds them of Star Wars characters - these are all people who have come up to me and told me how much Eli sounds like an Ewok/Wookie). I have not watched Star Wars enough times to know for myself what he sounds like, but if you have a strong opinion on the subject (which, I learned from the lady at the mall, some people do) and have heard Eli's weird Star Wars call, feel free to vote on it.

For your reference - an Ewok

and a Wookie.

Loving the lawn

Mom had an early birthday party for Eli and I, since we will both be gone before our birthdays. Eli had the time of his life playing in the sprinkler and following his cousin all over.

Kaden attacking him with the sprinkler.

Eli getting him back.

Mom is addicted to matching pajama pictures, so every time we come up, there is a new pair of matching PJ's for the kids and more pajama pictures.

The weird crawl he does on the lawn, trying to touch as little of the grass as possible.

Good Times

My friend Courtney came over to Hood River and spent the day here yesterday. Mom offered to watch Eli, so I could take her on my favorite hike. It's a beautiful waterfall that you have to hike through a gorge to get to. I've done this hike quite a few times, and every time it is different, depending on how high the water is (you have to hike through the water to get to the waterfall) and in the last few years there has been some log jams that you have to crawl over. Last time I was there with Isaac the water was really low and we never got wet above our knees and there was only a small log jam. Well, it has been a really hard winter here, and I have never seen the water this high, and, to top it off, it was FREEZING! The log jam was enormous, and we were already soaking wet from the waist down by the time we got there. We looked like idiots as we sat on the logs and butt-scooted over them, to afraid to stand up, slip on the logs and break our heads. By the time we got to the other side, we met up with other people, who informed us to get to the waterfall, we would be swimming in water up to our chest at the end. We got close enough to see the waterfall, and kept inching forward in the water, higher and higher, until finally we were freezing and decided we would come back next year when the water was lower. I have done this hike dozens of time, but I've never been so cold or wet. I forgot my camera, but once I get the pictures from Courtney, I'll post them. Until then, here's some pics I found online.

Afterwards, we got lunch, searched for some amazing brownies from Blissful Brownies (their German Chocolate brownie is to die for), and scored when we found a sit n'spin for $3! That was one of my favorite toys when I was a kid! I was so excited and brought it home for Eli to play with. Unfortunately, Eli is still too little to enjoy the sit n' spin and even sadder, I am way to big to comfortably enjoy the sit n'spin, so it's going to sit around for a few more years until Eli can fully enjoy it. Now I just have to find a Pogo Ball, and I will have all my favorite old toys.

My cute boy

4th of July

This 4th of July was great, it was the first time in 8 years that I've been able to enjoy the 4th. For 5 years I was out of the country on the 4th of July, and the last 3 years I've been in Arizona, inside, trying to escape the heat and watching fireworks on the 10 o'clock news. But this year Isaac and I were in Hood River, so we got to go the the 4th of July parade, BBQ, and watch fireworks without sweating to death. It was also First Friday downtown, so Ike and I got to go and listen to couple of bands and saw lots of local artists. Overall it was a great 4th. Here's a picture of Eli at the parade.

So Eli didn't do to well with the fireworks (he started screaming hysterically), but he loved the bubble-makers my sister brought down with her.

Watching cartoons with cousin Kaden and Uncle Erin.

Isaac went home today and Eli and I are sad. While he was here, I enjoyed part of my mothers day present - Isaac promised to change all the diapers for a week, and wake up with Eli so I could sleep in. So, everyday I got to sleep in until about 7:30-8 and didn't touch diapers at all. We miss him already! Yesterday was his birthday and we went to out favorite movie theater here in Hood River that was built at the local pizza place. It has couches to sit on and you can bring your pizza in with you. It's great. It's so nice being home, but I wish Isaac could stay longer!

Oregon Coast

We just got back from a few days at the Oregon Coast. It was a great trip with the whole family. Eli loved the beach - he loved playing in the sand, eating the sand, riding in the backpack carrier, the hot tub, everything.