Are you ready for some football?

It's that time of year...the air is crisp, it's getting dark earlier, the leaves are starting to change, and the level of testosterone at our house is increasing. Yep, it's time for football. It's a strange phenomenon in our house. On Sundays, my quiet, introspective, sweet husband transforms into this crazy person who yells, jumps up and down, and even grunts from time to time. I generally try to plan other activities during this transformation because, heck, even the poor dog gets scared! What is it about football? I have always hated football. HATED it. But, I have slowly developed a tolerance for it over the past couple of years and have started to develop a slight interest. And, as you can see from the pics, I think I will be in the minority at my house. So, I might as well join em, eh?

My boys watching the game!
Already cheering?
Eli has quite a throwing arm, though he usually throws with his left.
Yep, Ben Roethlisberger is from our town. Though, Jason is very quick to remind people that he was raised in Pennsylvania and has ALWAYS been a Steelers fan. ;)
Football may have started, but it's still baseball season!

New Friends

So, here are some pics from our visit last weekend with our blogger friends Nicole & Dominic and Tracy, Jens, Alex, & Anika. It was so much fun to finally meet them all in person after sharing our adoption journeys over the past year and a half. Even though it was the first time we met in person, we all felt like we have been friends for a long time! I suppose sharing such an incredible and unique experience bonds us all in a special way. So, we spent the afternoon and evening hanging out and playing with the kids. It was a great day and we look forward to many more visits! Hopefully, some of our other blogger friends can join us next time! We were all pretty exhausted by the end of the day, but Eli seemed to think the party was an all nighter! He decided he was having too much fun to sleep and kept us up for about 3 hours in the middle of the night at Nicole's house. This is sooo unusual for him! At least he slept the entire car ride home the next day.

The 3 Guattots playing with all of Dominic's awesome outdoor toys!
All four kiddos in the pool. I think Alex taught ELi some new swimming skills. By the end of the day, Eli was swimming around the pool on his belly like Alex.
Eli LOVED Dominic's tractor!
Eli and Anika ready for a ride! Actually, they were more interested in opening and closing the door.
Dominic and Anika. Anika had lots of hugs for the boys!

End of the day crash! Or, in Eli's case, just the beginning of a long night! ;)

I think Eli pulled off every single book on Dominic's shelf. There was quite a mountain of books on the floor.

The gang minus Jason and Jens. They were in charge of picture taking!

Together Again

This past weekend we went to visit Eli's foster sister, baby F! They are 11 days apart and shared a crib for 8 months. We met Baby F's parents and her 2 big brothers through our agency and we spent our first visit trip together in August 2007. Baby F's family was with us when we met Our Little Pea for the first time, we all ate dinner together with our foster mom and her family, and we spent several afternoons loving on our babies by the pool. Pure joy! They are a beautiful family and it has been a blessing getting to know them. It was sooo fun and exciting to see them again and see how much our two kiddos have grown over the past year. We are so lucky that we live within driving distance from one another and we can't wait to get these two together again very soon!


Baby F & Little Pea around 3 or 4 months old

Here they are today! Aren't they adorable?!?!

We also spent the weekend hanging out with a couple of our blogger friends, Nicole and Tracy! Are you jealous?!?! Heehee! I will post those pics later this week.

The End of Utopia

Sigh...the summer is over and school has started so that means Jason is back to work. Our utopian summer of all being home together has come to an end. It was so wonderful and such a blessing for us both to be home with Eli during out first 3.5 months bonding together as a family. I still have 2 more months until I must face the inevitable return to work. I am so lucky to be able to take this much off, but I can't believe how fast the time has gone! It seems like we spent the first 3 months just trying to find our family rhythm! The last 3 or 4 weeks, however, have just been amazing! It seems like we have hit a whole new level of comfort, security, attachment, etc. It is so fun to see Eli's face when Jason comes home from work. He gets so excited and one day danced himself in circles when he saw Jason coming up the frontwalk! Yesterday morning I listened to him on the baby monitor for about 30 minutes as he woke up in his crib talking and making himself laugh with funny noises (I just couldn't help myself!). It just melts my heart! He knows he is home.

Even so, that anxiety of going back to work is already starting to creep in a little bit. Just a little. I am quickly realizing that this time I have left is so precious and I just hate the idea of only having a few short hours with our sweet pea in the evenings once I return to work. I know all of you working moms battle with this as well. But, at this point, it is what I have to do so we will just make the best of it when that time comes. In the meantime, I don't want to spoil the rest of my time off with worry and anxiety so that's enough of that!

Here are some pics of this past weekend. My mom's credit union celebrated their 70th anniversary this year so they had a big party to celebrate. Eli got to try out some of the race cars!

Girl's Night Out

My older sister turned 40 this month so we decided to have a girl's night out to celebrate this monumental event. ;) We spent the afternoon shopping 'till we dropped and then had a great dinner in which none of us had to feed anyone and our meals were hot! We had a fantastic time and...why don't we do this more often???

The NEW 40!! Isn't she fabulous?!?!

How did this happen????

What is happening to my baby??? Eli is on his 3rd shoe size since coming home. He has grown about 3 inches and, luckily, has only gained about 2lbs. Sigh...he was supposed to stay small for at least a little while. He had just started walking when he was placed in our arms forever. Now he is running everywhere, climbing everything, doing somersaults, almost jumping, has a serious throwing arm (a lefty so far!), and is saying new words almost everyday. But, have I mentioned how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE hearing the very fast pitter-patter of his feet and his silly squeals of delight as he runs around the house?

Eli came home comfortably wearing these shoes! A size 4, which he quickly outgrew within about 3 weeks. I bet he could curl his toes around the edge now!
He moved onto size 5, which lasted about 7 weeks or so as his toes slowly started to creep over the edge and we were on the last 1/4 inch of velcro.
He is now in a size 6, but probably not for long...
Oh, and can someone tell me why children's shoes are so freakin' expensive??? Good grief!! Thank goodness I found the clearance rack today and bought the next size up, which he will probably wear for a month!

Zootime fun

We ventured to the zoo a couple weeks ago with my parents, brother, brother-in-law, 2 nephews, and niece. It was a GORGEOUS day! Perfect for strolling around the zoo.

Eli and J looking at the goats.
I think this was Eli's favorite part...chasing the goats!! He loved it!
Deep sea diver
Bottoms up!! This picture cracks me up! I think they were looking at a turtle.
My brother-in-law and nephew. The measure of an ape...um, I mean...a man. Heehee!! (Sorry Chris! I couldn't resist!!)

Trying to climb out of his stroller.

I think we are looking at a bird. Eli LOVES birds right now and points them out whenever he sees one flying by.Getting a close look at the butterfly!
Eli just loved looking at all of the animals and nothing seemed to scare him except...the hippo. This hippo was sitting very still and peaceful in the water with her eyes closed for quite a long time. Nothing frightful or scary about that, right?!?! Well, we were sitting right at the glass watching when she slowly came to life and opened her eyes and mouth. Eli started screaming!!! I suppose a "rock" suddenly coming to life would be pretty scary!
Watching the fish. I think we all could have just sat and watched the aquariums all day.
Tuckered out after a long day!

One year ago today...

we held our sweet little pea for the first time. I can't believe it has already been one year since I first kissed those cheeks! I can still remember all of our excitement, nervousness, and anticipation of meeting our son for the first time!!! Oh, wow!!! What an awesome, unforgettable moment. Holding Eli for the first time was probably one of the most incredible moments of our lives. It was absolutely perfect. Pure love and joy. Eli was only 4 months old and an itty bitty 10lbs!!

Little did we know at that time that we would be making 3 more trips to Guatemala over the next several months! Through a garage sale, other fundraising parties, generous donations from friends/family/complete strangers, selling stuff on ebay, 2 minor car accidents (insurance $$!!), a second job, the IRS, and lots of scrimping and saving, we were able to make these trips possible. Though, these trips were absolutely priceless in so many, many ways. The other day, Jason was showing Eli some pictures from one of our visit trips and telling Eli the story behind each picture. At that moment, I was reminded of how much we experienced over the past year waiting for Eli, of all the incredible memories and stories we have to share with him, and how much we really were a part of his first year of life. It is all part of our story of becoming a family and it is pretty awesome! Our journey to becoming a family is just as important as life together as a family.

This slide show is LONG, but how do you narrow down hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pictures?!?!?! So, grab your coffee, settle into that comfy chair, and enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Reaching Great Heights

Okay, I can do this....

Hold on tight and PULL...(panting and grunting)

Almost there...steady...steady...don't fall now
YES!!! WOOHOO!!!! Wow! There is a whole other world up here. What's all this stuff on the table? There's no stopping me now...

I am a winner! ;)

Thanks, Jennifer, for giving me this award! Though, I feel like I have not been a very good blogger this summer! There is definitely A LOT that has been left "unblogged." Still figuring out that whole new time management thing! ;) Not to mention everytime I open the laptop, little fingers get in the way!

Okay, with accepting such an honorable award (heehee), comes great responsibility. So I have to answer a little questionnaire, which is all about me and then I have to choose 7 bloggers who I feel are BRILLIANT and I give them the award. They will post their own answers to the questionnaire on their own blog and they will choose 7 more recipients. And so on!

A. Attached or single?
Attached

B. Best friend? Jason, of course!

C. Cake or pie?
CAKE, hands down. I can't bake cake very often because I have no self restraint. I also have the problem of taking bites out of the pan with a fork. Well, the fork never leaves a straight line, right? Consequently, I have to keep eating until the line is straight. Weird, I know.

D. Day of choice? Right now, anyday! But, when I go back to work (blech...sigh), I suppose it will be Saturday.

E. Essential item? Chapstick. It's an addiction.

F. Favorite color? Green

G. Gummy bears or worms? YUCK! ICK! GROSS! Neither!

H. Hometown? NW Ohio

I. Indulgence? A good book, a hot cup of tea, a salty snack, and no interruptions.

J. January or July? July

K. Kids?
One sweet, adorable, high energy little boy who makes me laugh everyday and just melts my heart.

L. Life isn’t complete without? Family and friends

M. Marriage date?
9/25/99

N. Number of brothers & sisters? One older sis and one older bro

O. Oranges or apples? Oranges, but only if they are perfectly sweet and juicy. I will not eat a dry, pithy orange.

P. Phobias? I don't really have any phobias.

Q. Quotes? I love quotes so how can I choose just one! I subscribe to Inspiration Peak so I receive a quote everyweek in my inbox. I received this one about a week after we received PGN approval:

There are no accidents... there is only some purpose that we haven't yet understood. -Deepak Chopra

R. Reasons to smile? So many! Yesterday we went to the zoo with my nephews and niece and my youngest nephew said he wanted to see the "Rabbittory" (conservatory) and the "Grapes" (Great Apes). It was so darn cute and funny!

S. Season of choice?
Spring! I LOVE the fresh energy of Spring after the long, cold winter. I always feel so revitalized.

T. Tag seven peeps! (see below)

U. Unknown fact about me? I dream of going to Machu Picchu someday and I LOVE the challenge of finding the best bargain!

V. Vegetable? Hmmmm...I like all vegetables! I especially love mushrooms, artichoke hearts, and broccoli.

W. Worst habits? I tend to get defensive easily. When I am really stressed, I pick at hangnails until they bleed. Gross, eh? I can also be a tad controlling.

X. X-ray or ultrasound? This one is just weird! Neither!

Y. Your favorite food? My favorite type of food is Mexican/Southwestern

Z. Zodiac sign? Pisces, though I am right on the cusp with Aries.


Now, the I pass the award onto:

Donna
Bobbi
Beth
Heidi
Kelly
Susie
Courtney

All in a day's work

Yesterday was such a great day! We didn't do anything exciting. We had big plans of going on a road trip adventure to the lake or the butterfly house, but decided it was just too darn hot! So, we stayed inside and enjoyed our day of "nothingness." It is these small, seemingly meaningless, everyday moments with my two favorite people that just take my breath away and make me so grateful for my family.

Yogurt explosion!! YUM!

Helping mommy bake cookies...nothing better than licking the beaters...
and the spatula!
Enjoying the final product! Eli loved watching the cookies bake in the oven. He kept running up to the stove and pointing at the cookies with great wonderment in his eyes.
Cookie=blast of energy. Yep, he managed to get this one open.
Superman on his dumptruck workin' a puzzle. It doesn't get any better than this, does it?!?!

Time to jump on daddy. Porter had to get in on the action, too.

Some much needed cleaning. Notice the out of place chairs in the background? Eli also likes to rearrange the furniture.

Laundry time!

Climbin' and pickin'

We have a little climber in the house! Little pea has been attemping to climb for awhile, but just recently started having some success so now it is all he wants to do! With this new skill also comes new bumps and bruises and scrapes. He got his first black eye last week after falling off the front steps! And, no, I didn't get a pic of the black eye. I am sure there will be more opportunities for that!

Helping to unload the dishwasher! Little pea has also really started imitating us and wanting to help out. He loves to push the vacuum, he tries to wipe off the table, he likes to use a wipe to clean his hands, and Jason even found him standing in front of the toilet like he was peeing. Ha!


Pickin' our first pepper harvest! He finally started wearing a hat again. Isn't he cute?!?!


Eli has also discovered that playing in his crib delays naptime! He just started taking longer naps again, but the trade off is lots of fun and games in the crib. Instead of laying right down to go to sleep (as he usually does!), he likes to jump on the bed, blow kisses, wave, sing, do somersaults, and whatever else he can think of to stay awake. It's hard to be mad or frustrated about it because he is so darn cute! We just have to ignore him and try very hard to keep a straight face! At least he is not screaming and crying!!