I'm 8 months old!

I really am a joy to be around! I am sleeping well at night and usually take 3 naps a day. I love to eat! Solid foods are great, except for peas and bananas. I usually eat around 4 jars a day, in addition to nursing 5-6 times. I still don’t have any teeth but chew on my hands (and toys) a lot. I am going to be a slow talker. I am not babbling much and don’t make many consonant sounds. I am army crawling everywhere! I am finally sitting up well – but I much prefer to be on my belly. Daddy calls me Godz-Eli because I slowly crawl over to my brother’s train tracks and destroy them! I am always missing at least one sock (see picture). My skin is really sensitive and I usually have a rash around my mouth from all that drooling I do. I am picking up and manipulating my toys better, but mostly I am on the go! I love to crawl to the Christmas tree and try to touch the ornaments. I also love chasing the cat!

Something really wonderful happened to me yesterday!

Seven and a half (almost eight) years ago, I splurged and bought a Columbia winter coat, seen here in our recent snowstorm. It was on sale for $115, but I am really frugal and remember thinking that I was crazy to spend this much on a coat. My friends assured me a Columbia coat would last me forever. Well, it has been a great coat, but last spring, the zipper pull tab broke off. I tried everything I could think of in its place (paperclip, craft wire, ribbon, fishing line) but nothing worked for longer than a week or two. Recently, friends told me to take the coat to Scheels, where I purchased it, and they would fix it since it's a Columbia coat. After some online research and calling Scheels, I confirmed that this coat has a lifetime warranty on zippers etc, and Scheels would send it to Columbia to fix it for me. Great news; I really love this coat and it has plenty of wear left.

So yesterday I took the coat to Scheels and asked the nice customer service woman there to mail the coat to Columbia for me. You can imagine my surprise when she told me that I could pick out a BRAND NEW coat and she'd just do an exchange! Seriously? Yes - she even checked with a manager. I didn't even need my receipt (they didn't ask how old the coat was, and I didn't volunteer that info :) SO. . . I entered the store with a 7 1/2 year old coat with a broken zipper pull, and left the store with a brand new (regular price $260, on sale for $180) coat!!

All I want for Christmas is. . .

. . . A SNOWBLOWER! We've gotten 15+ inches of snow here and are under a blizzard warning all day. The wind has created drifts in our driveway at least 2 feet high. After all this scooping, we'll probably be visiting the chiropractor tomorrow.

You should be seeing our driveway in this pic; instead, a solid snow mass.

Want to get out the front door? Think again!

Want to get IN the front door? Think again!

Here's the drift from our garage door.

Want come over for a visit? Bring a shovel and head on over! :)

Playing outside the box

Now that Eli is scooting around, guess where he likes to crawl?




He even got his brother in on the act!

This is a Test

What comes to mind when viewing our neighbor's Christmas lights?

The correct answer will be posted in the comments in a few days. Feel free to make as many guesses as you'd like. All correct entries submitted will be rewarded! OK, that's a total lie, but please make your guesses anyway.