On the Verge

Elijah is right on the verge of crawling finally. I took this series of pictures today over the course of several minutes. He's very comfy on his belly, and he pivots and rolls all around.

Up on all fours!!!

Trying to push up to a sitting position

Maybe not...

Let's try the other side

Almost up again!

Scooching backwards

Taking a break to chew on a puzzle piece

Up again

Concentrating

Resorting to rolling

"Enough with the pictures! This is hard work!"

Last Day With Grandma and Papa

Unfortunately, Grandma and Papa have to head home tomorrow, but we had a great visit! We hope that they come again soon!

Although she lives in Erie, PA, Grandma loves the Patriots-much to Mike's chagrin! Here she is in her Tom Brady jersey!

Our crazy last name will live on for another generation...

10 Months Old!

Elijah is 10 months old today!!! He's getting closer to crawling; although, he still uses rolling as his preferred means of getting around. He pivots all around and scooches a bit on his belly, but he doesn't get up on his hands and knees independently yet. We're working on that, but I know I'll be sorry once he really starts crawling! Now he will still sit in one spot and play for a while. Those days will be over soon!

Elijah is teething like crazy!! In addition to the four teeth that came in within a couple weeks of each other back in November, he now has three more teeth coming in! Those little teeth sure are sharp! He has taken to biting when he gets excited about something. Ouch!! He's using those teeth to try all sorts of new foods: grilled cheese, pasta, turkey, graham crackers and cheese. We haven't found anything that he won't eat yet.

Elijah's new fascination is rocking (just like Bobu!). He started rocking back and forth in his exersaucer, and he scoots it across the floor. Yesterday I put him in the glider rocking chair to take a picture of him in one of his new outfits (thanks, Katy and Nathan!) and he immediately started rocking himself. After a couple minutes of experimenting, now he totally has the rhythm down to keep himself rocking smoothly. He loves it! Check it out:


Elijah still adores his big sisters. Today he was snuggling with Isabella on the floor. He watches Isabella and Sienna intently when they play "fumble" with Dada or when they goof around with Papa. He'll be joining in before we know it!

Disney on Ice

Today we had a girls' afternoon at Disney on Ice: 100 Years of Magic. Isabella and Sienna got dressed up in matching dresses from Grandma.

The day wouldn't have been complete without a special treat. Isabella chose cotton candy that came with a crown, and Sienna chose a rainbow slushy in a special Mickey Mouse cup. Enjoying the show and the special snacks! In addition to all of the Disney princesses, we saw characters from Toy Story, The Incredibles, The Lion King, Pinocchio and many more. While we were at the show, Mike and his dad fixed our snowblower-or at least they think they did! We'll see the next time it snows!!

La Salette Shrine

Tonight we went to see the Festival of Lights at the LaSalette Shrine. We've gone the past couple of years, but this is the first time that we were there when the lights came on. I learned that there are over 400,000 lights, so it's an amazing sight!

The lights just came on!

Elijah was mesmerized!
Grandma and the kiddosBirds' eye view

It was a relatively warm night, so we were able to walk around and leisurely check out all of the lights. We also walked through the display of nativity scenes from around the world which were really neat.

Merry Christmas!

Santa found our house! He brought Mike a double snow tube so he can go sledding (or "sled riding", as he would say) with the girls.Santa must have liked his chocolate milk and Santa cookie since both girls got just what they asked him to bring them. Sienna got a Cinderella bear and Isabella got a Webkinz pet and a kid's digital camera!

Sienna got a Webkinz dog, too!

New fishing poles!

A real baseball bat from Dada! Isabella's new bathrobe!

We were sad that Grandma and Papa weren't here on Christmas morning, but we had a lot of fun watching the kids open their presents and read their letter from Santa Claus. There's nothing like experiencing Christmas through the eyes of a child!

Grandma and Papa Made It!

Grandma and Papa (Mike's mom and dad) got to our house a day later than they were scheduled. The girls were so excited to see them, and Papa finally got to meet Elijah! We enjoyed our turkey dinner! Elijah even had some turkey and sweet potatoes!

Merry Christmas Eve

Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care,Wilma sits safely atop our Christmas tree,
Isabella and Sienna sprinkled magic reindeer food in the snow so that Santa's reindeer can find our house,

Elijah supervised from inside with Dada,
and the girls put out chocolate milk (with a straw), a Santa cookie that Sienna made at school, some carrots for the reindeer and pictures for Santa.
We would be totally ready for Christmas if only Grandma and Papa were here!!! Mike's mom and dad were supposed to fly in this afternoon, but they never made it out of Erie this morning. Their first flight was delayed three hours which would have made them miss their connection in Cleveland. They're scheduled to get in tomorrow afternoon now! We're hoping that they have an uneventful trip so they can celebrate Christmas with us!!!

P.S. I'm way behind on my posts. I have lots of pictures from the last few months that I will try to add after Christmas. Stay tuned...

The Best Early Christmas Present

Tomorrow will not only mark Isabella's half birthday but also the six month mark from the terrifying day that we took Elijah to Children's Hospital and found out that he had a brain tumor. Today Elijah had his second follow-up MRI since his surgery in June. He has a bit of a cold with a runny nose, so I was afraid that it wouldn't be safe to sedate him for his MRI. Luckily, his lungs were clear and he could breathe well through his nose, so we were able to go ahead with the sedation and the scan. We were thrilled to hear that everything looks great and the tumor hasn't grown back!! This is the very best Christmas present that we could receive!! His next check-up is scheduled for March. We can still barely believe everything that Elijah has gone through in the last six months, but he's a brave and strong little guy. We are so blessed!

In Loving Memory...

July 16, 1919-December 14, 2008

My grandma passed away peacefully early this morning. She was surrounded by her three daughters (my mom and two aunts). We were fortunate to spend a wonderful Thanksgiving with her and our entire family at my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Paul's house in Chicago. My grandma spent time with her three daughters (and their husbands), her six grandchildren (and our respective husbands and wives), and her four great-grandchildren. My grandma was almost 89 1/2 years old! We were so blessed to have her around for so long. She will be greatly missed!

Here are several pictures from our Thanksgiving visit.
The girls knew that I was sad today so they both made me special pictures.

Sienna wrote: Mama, Sienna, and I love you.

Isabella made me a sweet card. Isabella said that the dots are angels flying over them. She also said that she, Sienna and Gigi are all wearing high heels! They must be going somewhere fancy with those beautiful dresses and necklaces, too!
I'm so glad that the girls were able to know at least one of their great-grandparents! I hope that they always remember their Gigi!