Catching Up on some fun new pics! ;)

Well, yesterday Ryan, Eli, and I checked out a new church, so we got all dressed up and I just couldn't resist taking a couple pics! Ryan was not as eager as I was, so that's why he is missing from the fun!

Then I decided to take a few pics of Eli today in one of his adorable new Children's Place outfits! (Notice how the jeans have a rip in them like he's worn them for a long time! Too cute!)

Anywho, hope you enjoy!

Yay, I love saving money!

Well, I love it, but I don't dedicate my life to it like my Mom and sis! ;) If only I was that devoted!

Well, today we were walking through our local mall because my wonderful husband said I could get a pedicure before I head up to North Carolina for Sarah and Dan's Wedding, and we walked past Children's Place and they had 50% off Clearance prices, so you know I couldn't just walk past, so I stopped and we got some really cute stuff for Eli cause you know, he doesn't have ANY clothes! ;) When we got up to the register, I said, "You don't happen to have any coupons do you, because I didn't know I was coming and I have some at home?" She looked around and then reached into a drawer and pulled out a 20% off coupon! How cool is that? So, after ringing everything up I only spent $27!! I saved over $6 just for asking if they had a coupon!





Anyways, here's what we got... (the jeans alone would have been that normally!)

A couple new family pics...

Just wanted to post a couple new pics of the family that I "forced" Ryan to let me take today! ;) I didn't really plan on doing it until we were getting ready to go out, and I realized I've been wanting to take one for a long time, but I just always get sidetracked...

Oh, Ryan and I didn't intentionally match, but once we saw we both had Orange shirts and tan shorts, that's what I put Eli in! ;) Maybe someday he'll forgive us! ;) We had to put the camera on a timer, but I think they turned out pretty good for indoor lighting! :)

Hope you like...

Our Emergency Visit...

Well, this post somehow slipped through the cracks I think because it felt very daunting to write out the whole story... But anyhow, I thought I should post about our scary experience last week... As some of you know we have all been battling sickness the last couple weeks with Pink Eye, sore throats, flu like symptoms, etc... We seemed to keep giving the sickness to each other, and as of last Thursday, Ryan and Eli seemed to be on the mend while I remained feeling sick and yucky... Then within 24 hours, Ryan went from hanging out with Eli all day the day before to lying in bed moaning in pain and burning up with a fever... I thought it might help just to take some Tylenol and let him sleep, but his fever just kept going up and he was complaining of searing back pain and headaches, and it was hard for him to even focus to tell me what was wrong... I was getting a little worried as his fever climbed to 103.1, but decided to run a lukewarm bath to see if that would help cool him down and relax him a little... I searched online for an urgent care center that I could call and see if his symptoms were severe enough to be brought in, but I had no luck finding one that was open after hours, and really without any other options, I decided to bite the bullet and dial 911... I just wanted to ask if this was normal or if I was overreacting, but they didn't really want to talk to me, they said they could send an ambulance and they could look at him if I wanted and that it wouldn't be a problem... I reluctantly said yes, feeling silly for calling when I could drive him in myself, but I figured they can look at him and tell us that he is really okay and he'll be fine... So, I go tell Ryan that the ambulance is on the way, and he is less than thrilled, but he attempts to get dressed and collapses back in bed while we wait.. They were of course there in no time and barely took his pulse and blood pressure before they decided to take him to the hospital because his blood pressure was elevated and the fever was not responding to Tylenol...

So, he's packed into the Ambulance and I rush around to get all of Eli's stuff ready wishing more than anything that we were closer to family, so they could watch him! I ended up getting ready and out the door in time to follow the ambulance to the hospital... Unfortunately I still had to wait for nearly an HOUR in the emergency room just to go up and see him! I mean, I followed him in for grief sake! By the way, I was SO Thankful that we didn't go to the Emergency Room because Ryan could not have handled waiting in the waiting room for a couple hours in his condition! I think we both would have gone crazy! ;) Thankfully I had the stroller and Eli just sat in that smiling and laughing at all the sick/injured people around him! We finally were let up and they ran a bevy of tests and found he had a very severe case of strep throat, so after a big fat penicillin shot and a couple hours in the hospital we were finally on our way home! Well, after we stopped at the Pharmacy to pick up his pain medication... I think I finally laid my head on the pillow at around 2:00-2:30 a.m. Ryan still had a rough go of it with nausea and overall yucky feeling for a couple days, but thankfully has come out relatively unscathed! ;)

Eli and I were seen the next day and thankfully didn't test positive for strep, but they did give me a ton of antibiotics and other medicine to help fight the infection I was dealing with! I feel a ton better now thankfully, but it sure isn't fun when both of us are sick, because I still have to take care of Eli, so it gets a little interesting to say the least!

So, that's our little emergency visit... hopefully that will be the last time we see that hospital for a long time! ;)

Eli proving he can wave! ;)

Ryan noticed that he will always wave if you hold onto his arm, so he decided to try to video it this morning... :) He will wave when he feels like it if you don't hold onto his arm, but for the sake of getting it on command, here you go! ;)

Hope you enjoy! ;)

Finally decided on the Party theme!

Yay!

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and just could not come up with something I loved... I’ve been wanting him to have something a little "cooler" than the typical 1st b-day themes, and suddenly it just came to me that he should have a Pirate theme! ;) Seriously... how cool is that!?

So, we’ve been looking around and haven’t really had any luck until we visited Party City tonight, and yay we found a ton of stuff! ;)

So, here is some of the loot that we came up with...

The plates and table clothes have little treasure maps on them which is just too cute! Eli has his own party hat, we have a giant Balloon, Happy Birthday sign, all kinds of fun stuff! :) I still haven't found a cake idea that I love... Maybe Ellen on another cake lady can help me out with a simple idea!

Anyways, I am SOOO excited and I can't wait!!

Guess who waved bye-bye for the first time today!?!?

It was crazy cause he just all of a sudden started waving back at people today while we were out shopping! ;) It was so cute and I was so excited for his newest milestone, yay! You could tell how proud of himself he was when he was getting so much recogition for it! ;)

Anyways, that's it... Just wanted to let you know our little boy is growing up! ;)

That's the last time I'll ask you to hold my apple...

I guess I shouldn't blame Eli since I should know better, but I just had to run and get something and I came back to my apple being devoured! ;) It's the first time he's gotten a go at a whole piece of fruit, so I guess he wanted to take full advantage of it! It seriously cracked me up how excited he was about the whole experience, so I thought I would send you a few pics... I don't know what's up with my white balance, I'll have to check out what settings it is on, but anyways, here is the culprit!

my poor apple after 8 little teeth got a hold of it!

what mom? I was hungry!
This is good stuff!

Open wide! ;)

Boys Day Out...

Well, as most of you know, Eli had a little bout with Pink Eye that seemed to go away and then reoccured once he came to Alabama... Ryan got a little sick right before he went down to see his friend Jeremy, and I thought I was immune, but apparantly NOT. :( I started feeling bad late Monday night and woke up Tuesday morning with eyes bloodshot and crusted shut! :( Thankfully I had the ointment that was prescribed for Eli, so I threw some of that in and hoped for the best... I've still felt pretty yucky the last day or so, but we still went out yesterday and went shopping and did a little hanging out. Today Ryan wanted to do more of the same, but I'm just not quite up for it today, so I hinted that I need a nap before we do anything. So, he decided to take Eli and hang out at the Mall with him, so Mommy can rest and relax for a bit, Yay! :)



I was getting Eli ready, and I asked Ryan what he wanted Eli to wear and he said something cool, so here you go... :)


Boys Day out...


I thought I was paying attention, but not very well cause Eli is all overexposed, but oh well, you get the idea! ;)

My boys are so goofy!

Daddy is so silly!

I wish they made pants in between 12-18 months!

His first Converse courtesy of his Gramma Leigh-Leigh, Thank You! :)

Yay... We're not homeless anymore!!!

As most of you know, we moved to Alabama because Ryan was transfered to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama... Well, after a 2 day 13 hour drive (with each of us driving one of our cars), Ryan and I arrived in Huntsville on Sunday afternoon. We took a little drive around the post and were very pleasantly surprised at the beauty and size of the post! It is really pretty and almost feels like you are thrown back in time with nice manicured lawns and moms pushing their kids in strollers along the sidewalks. :) (This is VERY rare for most military posts we've been on) We were hoping to be able to stay on post, but unfortunately, that wasn't an option because they only had a 2 bedroom duplex, and we just have too much stuff for a 2 bedroom! ;) So, Tuesday began the crazy search for a house/apartment. We were originally wanting a house, but houses rent for about 1000-1600 for a basic 3 bedroom which is just too much for our budget, so we consigned ourselves to finding an apartment.



We wanted to find a nice, clean, and safe area and were really concerned if we could find something we liked that we could afford. The first couple of places we looked at were "scary" as I like to call it, (translation... everything is falling apart, your neighbors are less than desirable, location is in a bad section of town, etc...) but as we were driving to an apartment complex that looked promising, we saw a very nice complex and I looked it up in the Apartment Guide and saw that it was about $100 out of our price range, but Ryan said, why don't we just stop and take it look, so we'll have something for comparison. I said, okay, but it looks really nice, so we're going to fall in love with it and then not be able to afford it! ;)

Anyways, we went in and the Property manager greeted us and we found out there was a 3 bedroom available, and we asked her about the price and because of a sale and the fact that Ryan is in the Army, the price got knocked off by $100! ;) So, she started taking us around and showed us the 24 hour fitness room, billiard room, internet room, etc... which was very nice and accessible only by a keycard. The Apartment overlooks the pool and playground, and we have our own little deck and storage area which is really nice. The rooms are very large and the living room/dining room has an open floor plan with tons of space. The apartment hasn't even been lived in yet, so everything is brand new and so nice! It is so refreshing to have something so nice as opposed to the disgusting place we had in Texas with holes in the carpet and pink walls in Eli's room to boot! ;) We decided to go for it and we got approved and started the process! Then after a lazy day yesterday, today was the day we got our Eli back after him staying with both sets of grandparents for 6 days!!! We were so excited and after grabbing a little lunch at Cracker Barrel, we headed over to the Apartment, so we could pay all of the deposits and finalize the paperwork. We showed Ryan's parent's the complex and they really seemed to like it and were impressed by all the space... I don't have any photos yet to show y'all, but we are really happy with everything and the movers came yesterday and unloaded boxes and boxes of stuff! Ryan and I worked into the night trying to get some type of order in the apartment, and he even stayed up later than I did to try to get the living room and office ready for the cable/internet people to come today (they came, we have internet as you can see, yay!) So, we are very happy and once we get everything situated and everything spruced up, we'll be sure to forward you lots of pics! Talk to y'all soon!

Here's a pic of the outside stolen from their website... :)

Tar.....Heels......Tar......Heels.....

Well, if any of you are living under a rock, then you don't know what's going on with March Madness, and that Carolina is now in the Final Four! Yay! Well, before they're game on Thursday night, they had an open practice at Bobcats Arena in Charlotte... I had heard about it, but didn't think there would be any way that I could go since I don't have any transportation until Mom gets home from work a little after noon, and if I wanted to get good seats I would need to be getting to Charlotte around that time... I had already put the idea out of my mind when Mack called me and said that Pastor Cruise said he could have the day off to go see the practice if he wanted. So, after I convinced Dad to take me to meet him in Charlotte, I still had to find someone to watch Eli... We were going to just take him with us and then Dad would ride home with him and Mom could watch him when she got back from school... Well, Mom thought it would be better if she just came and got him, so thankfully she had a little break and jumped in the Jeep and came home to pick him up. Dad and I headed to Charlotte and he actually let me out at a Stoplight in front of the Arena, and I just ran in! It was free to get in, but I was worried they wouldn't let me bring my camera in because it is a "professional" camera, but they looked right at it and let me through... It wasn't long before I found Mack and Jared and we settled into our seats on the first row diagonal to the court!

I started snapping away and the goofy security guards started eyeing me and my camera... Finally they came over and said that I probably wasn't going to be able to use it because the lens was too long, and I might try to sell the images or something! I was like, give me a break! He said the lens couldn't be extended past 6 inches, so he agreed if I didn't zoom all the way out, then I could continue to shoot. We really enjoyed the practice and got to see the Tar Heels up close from a vantage point that we will probably never witness again! Mack and Jared even got interviewed a couple times by our local news affiliates! (Dad taped it, and I'm still trying to figure out how to get it on Dad's computer! We may have to wait till I get back to my computer and my programs!)

Anyways, we had a blast and here are a few pics of our Beloved Tar Heels!

Our goofy nephew, Jared... :)

One of the VERY few cool Dukies, Jay Bilas

Rick Pitino thinking about how Carolina's going to beat him in a couple days... ;)

Jared cheesin...

Coach Williams chattin' up Marcus Ginyard

Pyscho-T stretching

The National Player of the Year... Aren't you glad he's on OUR side!

Ellington throwin' it home

Psycho-T making it look way too easy

These guys ran up to the edge of the court and yelled for Danny Greene... When they got his attention they showed him their shirts and asked if he remembered the picture... He smiled really big as he recalled the awesome dunk over Duke this year! ;)

Bobby Frasor having a little fun trying to make a 3 as Coach Williams looks on...

Deon Thompson signing autographs within arms reach of us! So cool! No, I didn't have anything for him to autograph! :(

Hope Everyone had a very Happy Easter!

We had a very BUSY, but very Happy Easter weekend here in North Carolina! This was Eli's very 1st Easter, and I don't think he was very impressed with having to get dressed up, but he definitely enjoyed all the extra attention!

Anyways, hope you enjoy a few pics of him in his Easter Outfit!

Lookin' all GQ in my Easter Outfit!

Yeah, I got a few eggs... What do you got?Kid needs to shop at Big and Tall Baby with the size of his neck! ;)Aww... this stuff is kinda fun!

Yay, my First Easter!

Yeah, that's my Grandma Swaringen...

Trying to show off the whole outfit! I edited Mom's arm out, but Ryan said I couldn't post it cause then everyone would think Eli was really standing by himself! ;)

Some more Eli spam!

Well, since I have had a day or two to play with my fabulous new camera (Thank you Ryan!) I decided to get out there and practice on our little Eli... It was a tad chilly, so I threw him in his football outfit and we headed to the front yard to shoot away. At first he was a little unsure of the grass, but he decided it wasn't too bad after a while! Anyways, here are a few (by that I mean A LOT!) shots that I just couldn't resist posting!

Our Cheesin' Eli

I love him in hoods!Hey... Throw me the ball!so stinkin' cute!so happy!this is his mid-yell face!and his mid-squeal face!leanin' in to get the camera!growing up so fast!I have to stretch...Yay!Rare Mr. Grumpy face!Hey Mom!I'm tired, but I've still got my eye on you!

This pic just cracked me up cause I was trying to get him to hold the doll to get a funny pic for Ryan, but he would not hold it, he just kept hitting it and pushing it away! (I love how big his eyes are here!)