brainwashing 101

*please note who is doing the brainwashing in this video
and eli's hand is cracking me up!

detox program...

we are in a serious detox program right now. if anyone knows my firstborn, they know he LOVES apple juice. well, at his 2 year check-up he weighed in at a whopping 22lb 10oz. when you look at the curve the doctors use to show growth, he is WAY below the whole chart, almost off the page. this shows some concern for the doctors since he has only gained 3 lbs since he was 9 months old. so i have 3 weeks to beef him up and if that doesn't work, we will have some tests run for poor weight gain. and guess what step one to beefing him up is: to get rid of all apple juice! the doctor says this curbs his appetite and causes him not to eat as much.

now, in my defense, he only gets a tablespoon or two (depending on how generous i'm feeling) in each cup of water. but the doctor says any flavor at all will keep him from eating enough! who knew! so we are now in day 3 of our detox program. after we left the doctor on thursday, we went all out and got a juice box with our chick-fil-a meal. straight apple juice...you could say we went out with a bang! and since, we have been putting less and less juice in his drink. now, i am just pretend to pour juice in his cup if he's watching. and i believe its working. he is drinking less and eating more. hopefully soon we will turn this kicker into a quarterback...since i don't think he'll ever be "lineman healthy". we will leave that position to his little brother. :)

in brighter news, eli did hit a growth spurt and is now in the 55% percentile in height! that's huge considering he has never been over the 20% percentile before. we will keep you updated as he beefs up.

big truck birthday

eli turned the big 2 yesterday and we celebrated BIG! all of our family came up to help us make the jump from a one year old to a big two year old. this birthday was a lot of fun. eli got lots of great presents and enjoyed the company of lots of family and a few close friends. here are the pics from the day.

entrance to the party

cups

blowing out the candles. thanks to daddy for refurbishing the tonka truck so we could put our dirt cake in the back.

future construction workers...if not coaches. :)

birthday jersey

new toy. i love his face in this pic

trying to ride the horse himself. lol!

elmo!

elmo's guitar.

another great face.

daddy enjoying the new toys

we are so grateful for all the love our family has for our boys. they showered eli with lots of gifts but most of all with lots of love and attention. to say he is spoiled rotten is an understatement for sure. and all day i was so happy i could enjoy this birthday since last year i was sick as a dog being pregnant with ty. :)

his life's a musical...part dos

his life is a musical...

these are a few videos that show you just how much this child loves to sing and play music. he is always singing the words he knows like "football, baseball, play, deer, our names, work, apple juice, etc." and has an addiction with the guitars in our house. he gets this from both sides of our families. chris, his dad, grandpa, and uncles all have musical talent and my grandpa, mother (well, she plays the guitar :) ) and sisters are all musical as well. i sure hope he gets their musical genes and that he sings better than me. which won't be that hard to do!

as a mother of boys...

you learn a lot about trucks and tractors and all kinds of things with motors,

and throw the football outside on most afternoons,

and get orders from the quarterback in training,

and take pictures of daddies bonding with their sons,

and clean up a lot of messes,
this one was instigated by boo, the original powder man

and take them to ball fields,

and try to keep the little one from getting beat up,
it's ok ty...one day you will be bigger than him

and put little boys back in bed for nap time,

and treasure the days they love their mommy most,

and rest when they rest because its full throttle when they are awake!

though life is constantly in motion, i love every minute
that is unless they are crying at the same time. :)

the L in labor day...

stands for lake burton as far as i'm concerned.

and lots of lake activities like boating...

loving on little ones...

learning how to snap beans...

swimming with daddy...
(mommies don't get in water that cold)

sliding into the big water...

trying on goggles...

jumping in the big water...

and jumping some more...

getting some nana cindy and laurel blake time...

wearing life jacket diapers...
i'm just glad i don't have to change this one!

and turning purple and shaking from being so cold...
but loving every minute.

and all of this fun wore little ty bo out! he also got lots of good grandma time with three wonderful grandmothers taking turns holding and loving on him. and aunt kyle also had the magic touch. she always got him to sleep. he was very well behaved and even slept well while we were there. i think ty i trying to make his mommy out to be a liar from all the bad things she says about his screaming and nightly sleep habits.

we enjoyed a great weekend on lake burton once again.
thank you barrys' and kafskys' for putting up with us. we love you all.