Feeding the Duck

After spending the whole day inside, we decided we needed to get out and enjoy some fresh air. I had the idea to go down to Horn Pond in Woburn to feed the ducks (where Ted and I have gone to feed ducks together since we met in 2002). Feeding the ducks turned into feeding the duck. One lonely duck came for our stale bread. Eliot didn't mind, though. We think he had fun. He even enjoyed some of that stale bread for himself.

Eliot sharing some of the duck's dinner

Happy 80th Birthday, Aunt Fran!

Today we celebrated my great Aunt Fran's 80th birthday at Bertucci's in Reading. Of course I didn't get any good pics of the birthday girl (well, with my camera anyway), but here's a few other pics from the day.

My Dad :)

And then I passed the camera over to my dad to get our own little family portrait done!

In other news, Eliot has been walking for about a week and a half/two weeks now. He's just adorable. He's getting much better with balance and can already walk for much longer distances than when he started a couple of weeks ago. He loves when Mommy (or anyone really) will blow bubbles for him to watch, loves when anyone will flip a light switch to turn the lights on and off (about 100 times), loves to find Mommy, Daddy, and Eliot's "bee bos" (belly buttons) and found a shiny surprise one time when he found Auntie Emily's! He has his two incisors coming in right now which will put us to 6 teeth total. He eats lots and lots of finger foods now, but still enjoys his pureed fruits and veggies (he refuses to eat finger food veggies and most fruits too). He's such a fun little boy and we feel so blessed that God chose him for us <3

Portraits of Emily

Emily got her hair done yesterday and they were offering a complimentary make-up session as well so she went for it! I decided to take the opportunity to get some nice portrait shots of her. She had a headache and appeared bored in most of the photos, but I did manage to get a few that I was happy with.

Doesn't she look like an eyeglasses model? Maybe Ralph Lauren will see this and ask for the rights -haha!

A Couple New Photos

Though nothing too exciting, I wanted to post a couple of pictures from this week. Ted is away in Virginia all week so we've been trying to keep ourselves busy, busy, busy! My mom found 3 small chairs tucked away in her garage so she dragged them out and cleaned them up for Eliot!

Also, we discovered recently that Eliot just loves to sweep. It started as a funny game between my mom and Eliot. She would take the broom on the porch and sweep with all her might (grunting like it was realllly hard work) and Eliot cracked up. He thought this was the most hysterical thing he had ever seen. That's when he decided he wanted to try sweeping. He's been hooked ever since. I can't wait until he is old enough to actually make piles :)

I love this photo!

Eliot's New Swing!

The neighbors who live next door to my parents house have a swing hanging from the tree in front of their house for their grandchildren. Whenever Eliot sees the swing (with or without someone in it), he points to it. My mom had mentioned a few times how sad it makes her that she doesn't have a swing for Eliot. The trees at my folks house don't really have any good "swing" branches and the ones that do are really too high up to reach. The other day, we went out around the house determined to find a branch that would work. We found one that might work. It was a high one and it hangs over the driveway-- not really the best location, but if anyone could make it work, it would be Ted... and that he did :)

I found a used swing on Craigslist and we picked it right up. Boy, oh boy did Eliot love his new swing! He was nonstop smiles!

I Love This Picture!

I took this photo of Eliot in my parents yard the other day. He was just walking along, holding onto Grandma's finger. I just love it!

The resolution for the web really doesn't do it justice!
The more I look at this photo, the less I like it- LOL. I need to clone out the poles coming out of Eliot's head and my mother's hand.


A little better?

Sunapee

My parents and my sister all had yesterday off. At the very last minute, we decided to take a day trip up to our cottage in Sunapee, NH. Eliot was awake for the entire 2 hour car ride and didn't cry once!! I was so proud of him! He normally hates the car so this was really an achievement for him.

We got to the cottage at about 1:30 and had lunch. After lunch we promptly changed into our bathing suits and headed outside. Eliot climbed right into the little kiddie pool that my grandparents bought for him-- it was so cute! He loved it! A while later, I caught a salamander and put it in his pool to show him. He is such a boy-- he went right for it!

Grandma picked up the salamander so that Eliot could get a better look (or feel)!

Eliot also loved being in his little floatie in the pond. He especially liked it when he was in shallow water so he could walk along the bottom. I love that he loves the water so much-- just like his Mama!

We had such a nice day and Eliot had so much fun that he forgot all about his second nap! He slept pretty good last night too. I think he slept in his bed from about 8:30-5:00am! And then he came in bed with us until 6:30! I guess we should do this more often ;)

This is our neighbor's dog, Griffin. Griffin spend all day (literally HOURS) walking back and forth in the water between cottages "fishing." When I asked if he ever caught anything, I was told: "Nope." Poor griffin :(

The Learning Tower (& one of Oden)

One of Eliot's new favorite things to do is have me hold him up in the window so he can look at all the cars and people in the parking lot. After about 5 minutes, my back and legs are ready to give way. Years ago, my sister in-law, Melissa purchased her girls a "learning tower" that they could climb up into and look out the window. She found another one on sale shortly after and grabbed that one too "just in case." Well, my in-laws have purchased the second learning tower from Melissa and have given it to Eliot as an early birthday gift! Boy, does Eliot love his new tower! Thank you Ted, Janice & Melissa!

Helping Daddy put it together!

I also wanted to throw in this photo of my parents cat, Oden that I shot yesterday. I didn't really have an assistant to entertain nor did I have a real good background, but I like what I got!

Eliot & Friends

We spent the day today at my parents house. I was sure we could find something great to do-- the weather was BEAUTIFUL. After sitting around on the kitchen floor for maybe 20some minutes, I think I finally gave up on the prospect of finding something fun and exciting to do. It was probably about 10 minutes after that that I suggested moving all the dining room furniture around-- all in the name of getting a good photo. I had seen an idea similar online and decided I just must try it out for myself! Here are a couple of different edits on the photo, Eliot & Friends. Enjoy :)

Edited to add that after looking at this top photo a couple of times, it now really irks me that the red bear sticks out so much. I really wish I had used 3 brownish animal friends. Oh well, it's all a learning process!