Team Tillema

Life with two little boys :)

2010-08-16T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Wow! It has been a long time once again since my last family update! Life with two little boys at home has been a bit busy, yet very fun! :) Our boys absolutely adore each other, and everyday it is fun for us to see them grow!

Eli is getting bigger, and smarter by the minute! He is a loud little boy with lots of energy! He's always on the go! However, he is very good at entertaining himself as well. Since Ethan's arrival I've realized even more how wonderful of a son Eli is. He is super affectionate with Ethan and gives him hugs and kisses everyday. But he is also good at being patient with Mommy when I need to feed Ethan or attend to his needs (most of the time, of course!).

Ethan is a bundle of happiness. He giggles, coos, and jibber jabbers all the time. He is definitely learning and taking in the world around him. It was really neat to see the first time he smiled. It was actually at his big brother Eli when we were putting Eli down for a nap. I laid Ethan next too Eli on Eli's pillow. Eli looked over at Ethan and was giggling at him and then Ethan smiled right back at him! It was so cute! Now Ethan giggles too! He loves playing Patty-cake and Peek-a-boo!

Jeffrey had a new past time this summer. He joined a men's softball league with some guys from work and he enjoyed it quite a bit. His team was undefeated for the first 8 weeks and they went on to get second place in the league. I was pretty proud of him! Work continues go to well for Jeff as well and we are enjoying more time together now that tax season is over!!! :)

For me, I am simply enjoying being a mommy! I continue to stay home with our little boys and I am so thankful to have the opportunity to watch my kids grow up and learn how to do and say new things! We've had a lot of fun this summer playing with friends, going to the park, going for walks, and simply playing outside at our house! I love summer and have had so much fun! It's hard to believe September is a few weeks away!

Well, that is all the news I have for now. I will tell you more about our happenings as you go through the pictures!

So I realize it has been so long since I've gotten pictures on here. I didn't even have any from when Grandpa and Grandma Tillema came to meet Ethan. So here you go! They are proud grandparents! :)

We of course needed to get a picture with Uncle Kevin meeting his nephew too!

When Jeff's parents and brother Kevin came to visit, his brother Aaron and family came over as well! They had a surprise for me! They were going to put in our dishwasher! Hooray! I am so thankful for that dishwasher! I don't know what I would do without it now that I have two little kiddos to take care of!
The Auntie Gerri, Eli and Joy had a ton of fun playing outside!
Eli and Joy = So cute!
Well, after everyone left we decided it was time to give Ethan his first bath at home. To keep things G rated, I thought I would put a picture after his first bath! He screamed during the whole thing but was quite peaceful once it was all over.

After Jeff's full week off from work, my mom came to stay with us for a week to help out with the kiddos! She was so helpful! She let me sleep in, changed some diapers, played with Eli, etc... Thanks again mom! It was so fun to have you here with us!

We took this when my mom was here! Eli is still so happy to be a big brother!

We got a nice one of Grandma Sue with both of her grandbabies!

This picture was taken on Mother's Day! I love being a Mom!

Read Ethan's shirt. :)

Grandma Niki also came to help with the kiddos for a week. I am so lucky to have a wonderful mother-in-law!

Once we really started to get some hot days, we decided to get Eli a new pool for the summer! I think it is one of his favorite things in the whole world. He was so excited when we got it! It even has alligators on it! We play in it almost every sunny day!

We also got a fun sprinkler for Eli to play in! Daddy decided to play too!

Another fun think Eli always loves is his guitar! He played it for me one afternoon in our 3 seasons room while Ethan was napping :)

Jeff's brother Kevin graduated from High School this year :)

This is my niece Joy holding Ethan at Kevin's graduation party. So cute!

In the month of June, Ethan started smiling!

Happy to be brothers! :)
I just love this one!

Ethan loves standing so much we decided to take out his bouncer! It's still a bit big for him to bounce in, but this was his reaction the first day I put him in there!

This bouncer chair has saved my life! Ethan has not been a very good sleeper for me this summer, but he will sleep in this chair. So I bring it outside with us when Eli is playing. When I put it on the vibrate mode, he actually stays sleeping! Hooray!

Golf was one of Eli's other favorite passed times this summer! He sometimes will play golf for 10-20 minutes all by himself. If he's not in the pool, this is usually one of the first things he does! Perhaps he will be a big name golfer some day! I would say the next Tiger Woods... but we don't really want that..
He's getting so big! And he's cute, cute, cute!
Happy Father's Day Daddy!
My dad got a great picture of me and Ethan when they came to visit over Father's day weekend too!

Ethan is starting to like to sit up a bit more. Obviously not on his own yet, but he likes to be propped up this way. Now he even tries sitting up sometimes. To no avail, but he's trying!
Eli LOVES his pool!
Over the 4rth of July weekend, our family took our first trip to Green Bay! While in Green Bay we took our first trip to the New Zoo! Eli has so much fun! He saw lions, an albino alligator, giraffe, buffalo, a moose, an otter, a bear, praire dogs, and penguins (just to name a few)... Here Eli is looking at the swans! :)
Ethan spent most his day with me and Jeff being carried in the sling or the baby bjorn. He is not a real big fan of the stoller yet. But he was happy the whole time we were there :)
Eli ran from animal to animal!
He even tried feeding the goats, and a llama!
Then he found his favorite! A dinosaur!Before we left we got to see some penguins! Here is Eli and Jeff doing their best impression!
After the zoo we had a ton of fun going to the park!
Grandpa Jim even went on the tater-toter with Eli and Jeff! :)

The next morning was the 4rth of July! Before we went to celebrate at my aunt and uncle's house, my mom and I decided to take Elijah to Ashwaubemay! It is a man-made lake with a beach in Green Bay that I used to love going too!That evening we went to my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate my uncle and cousin's birthdays (along with celebrating Independence Day!). We got to meet my second cousin Katelyn that is one month younger than Ethan for the first time! Congrats again John and Kim!

Ethan also got to meet my extended family that day! My grandma was so excited to hold Ethan for the first time! :)
Daddy helped Eli do his first sparkler this year! It was so fun! :)
Before we left, we attempted to get a picture with Grandma and Grandpa. Eli was been a bit anti pictures that weekend, so this was the best we got!
We thought we'd try to get a family picture too!
When we got home, we decided it was time to get Ethan a hat! Isn't he so darn cute!?!
He is a happy boy! He loves the swing (unlike his brother Eli)!

The week after the 4rth of July, we went to the La Crosse County Fair! Eli got to see farm animals for the first time! He was soo excited! He even got to pet some! We saw: cows, pigs, rabbits, roosters, chickens, sheep! He was so excited and of course didn't want to leave! He finally got to see what "Old Mc Donald" has on his farm! :) Before we left, Eli even got to ride his first pony! Unfortunately, my camera battery died so we didn't get a picture! But he had so much fun!
We also took Eli to the rides and games area and he got to ride on his first ride! So fun! This was the only one he was big enough for! He loved it!
Also this summer, our friends Tony and Katie got married! Here are my handsome boys all dressed up after the ceremony! Yes, I agree, we should have gotten a better backdrop, but it was raining!
Eli got to see his best friend Bella at the wedding and he was soo excited!
They even danced together!
I had so much fun dancing with Eli! :)
He was excited to see Bella's Mom Claire too! We sure miss the Zastrows! They moved to Milwaukee in January and we do not get to see them enough!
Last but not least we have some pictures from my birthday! We went to the splash park with Eli and Ethan and afterward took Eli to play at the park near by!!
Jeff took the day off to spend my day with me! What a nice husband I have! I had a lovely day!

Phew.. that was a lot of pictures! And that is all I have time for today! In the next week I will try to create one more post that will catch you up on the rest of our summer! We went on our family vacation last week got a lot of GREAT pictures!

Love you all and hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as we are!

God is good!!!

2010-04-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hello wonderful friends and family!

So I was talking to my mom on the phone today, and realized that is has been WAY to long since I have made a post about our lives!!! A lot has changed since our last update!!!

Our most recent, and amazing miracle is the birth of our son Ethan Alexander! He was born April 20, 2010 (1 day before my scheduled C-section)! So, I am really excited to share the awesome testimony of what God did for me! It's kind of a long story, but please read it! Our God is a God of healing! I learned he doesn't always do things in our timing, but we must have faith, keep praying, and He does answer!!!

Most of you know this, but a little over 2 years ago, when I had my son Elijah, I had a really traumatic delivery. I delivered naturally, but then had to go into 2 hour surgery immediately after giving birth. We all ended up alright, but I had 4rth degree internal tearing and the doctor said from now on I would need to have C-sections for my future deliveries. He said he hadn't seen anything like what happened in his 20 years of practice. At the time I was very thankful for my health, but was not very happy about that news. So, we started praying!

For 2 years, we prayed and prayed! Over the past 2 years, God healed me enough that I no longer had pain, but a C-section was still needed. I knew that God was a God of healing, and believed he wanted that for me, but I did not feel like I should try to have a natural delivery unless He told me I should and I had a complete peace about it. So we kept praying.

Well, of course I got pregnant again, and talked through with the doctors what the plan would be, scheduled the C-section date.. and continued praying, asking God for a word or something to let us know I was healed to have a natural birth. One week before my scheduled delivery, I was pretty disappointed, because the reality was, I was more than likely going to have a C-section. I didn't know what I was going to do. I wouldn't be able to pick up Eli for 6 weeks, and the recovery, from what I heard, is not a fun process. But after continued prayer, I realized that I just had to praise God for being good and trust that he knew what was best. Little to my knowledge, a natural delivery was just around the corner.

Monday night, of last week (Jeff's birthday), at about 11:00 I had the first signs of labor.. but was in denial for probably the first hour.. I had a scheduled C-section in 2 days, and it was scheduled 8 days before my due date, there was no way I was in labor. (However I had prayed if it was God's will for me to have a baby naturally that I would go into labor before the C-section :) ) I didn't mention anything to Jeff until about 11:30 because I didn't want to make a mountain out of a mole hill. (I thought perhaps my water had broken.. but wasn't sure (it wasn't obvious).. and I had one contraction. So finally at 11:45 I told Jeff and decided we should call the hospital to tell them what had happened since I was supposed to have a C-section and didn't know the protocol. They simply told me to give it a half an hour and then call back. So we got ready for bed and then, well, we started packing for the hospital. The contractions went from 20 minutes apart, to 10 minutes apart, to 5 minutes apart all in that amount of time. So we got completely packed, got Eli up, called Jeff's brother to meet us at the hospital to get Eli for us, and went to the hospital. As all this was going on, Jeff and I kept praying, "God if it is your will, please let us have a natural delivery". Jeff even prayed that it would be the only option. Long story short, we got to the hospital, were told a natural birth was our ONLY option (I arrived 9 centimeters dilated), and then had Jeff's brother pick Eli up within minutes of time to push, and our little boy was born at 1:22am healthy as can be! And I was healthy too! God allowed my body to have the natural delivery, healed me up and then let me have the natural birth I had prayed for for 2 years straight! Woo hoo! Days after my delivery, I still am in awe that God healed me! I am able to hold both of my babies! I was able to have the naturally delivery I had only dreamed of! Praise God!

Besides that amazing story, I realized that some of you (if you aren't on Facebook), may not know that God also blessed us with a house in past December! We made an offer December 7th, got on offer accepted the next day, and closed on the house December 28th! We prayed and prayed for the perfect house for us since Spring of last year, and finally found our house. The funny thing is, the previous owner of the home was a priest! God was already at work in the house and then he brought us there! We love it and couldn't have been more thankful of the timing we found it. We waited a month to move in the paint it and do a little bit of work, and then got it all done and moved in before Jeff got busy with tax season.

This tax season went much better than last year for us. We had our house, and a full unfinished basement, so Eli had tons of room to play! Plus, a nice couple from church with 2 young children (3 and 1) happen to live in right around the corner, so we had friends to play with whenever we wanted! And still do :) Recently we found out, that another couple from our church, with 2 young kids, may be buying a house right down the street from us as well! So I guess the moral of the story is, God has truly blessed us over the past few months and I am happy to finally get to share all of this with you!

And I figure you might also like a few pictures! I'll start with a few house pictures and will of course post a few of our new little guy too! Sorry this is such a long post, but we have so much great news to update you with! Hope you enjoy!

Here is our new house :) We love it! It's funny because when I imagined our house, I always thought it would be fun to have a blue house with white shutters :) We absolutely love it!

Here is our living room (angle 1) All of the pictures of our home are after we painted it! We painted the whole thing, top to bottom, before we moved in!

Living room (angle 2)

Here is our kitchen (Angle 1)

Kitchen (Angle 2)

Here is Eli's bright Blue Elmo room :)

Here's Eli's Train Set :)
Here is Baby Ethan's Room

And here is his dresser after I finished painting it :)Here is our master bedroom :) (Angle 1)

Our Bedroom (Angle 2)
(There is another window to the left of the TV!) And here is our bathroom with our new bathroom decor :)

And here is our 3 seasons porch that is right off of our kitchen! It is Eli's little play area that has been so wonderful for us when I'm not quite ready to head outside :)
We also have a full unfinished basement that we have fixed up a little bit, but I don't have any pictures of that yet.. :)

After we moved into our house, Eli had his second birthday :) I figured I should show you a few pictures of that! He really likes Elmo, so I decided to go all out and make him an Elmo cake :)And I just thought this was a cute picture that captured our little 2 year old!

In March I went home to celebrate my cousin Kim's baby shower. Before I left I got a couple good pictures with my mom..

and Dad :)

And of course celebrated Easter, so here's one picture of Eli with his basket...

and here's one of him enjoying his chocolate bunny :)

We had to get one last picture of me of course before Ethan's arrival
(I'm about 38 weeks in this picture!)

And here is our new little Ethan just minutes after his birth!
He weighed 7 lbs 3 oz. and was 21 1/4 inches long :)
And I was feeling great! Praise the Lord!

Here's Proud Daddy with our little peanut right after they got him all washed up!

We were soo excited! It was so fun to call our parents and tell them the great news! It was about 2:00 in the morning when we were able to call them and they were both in complete shock!

After a few hours of sleep, I of course had to start taking some more pictures of our new little prince! Sleeping away!

And awake! :)

So my mom was able to get off of work early the next day and they(my mom and dad) came into visit!
Proud Grandpa Jim :)

Then they of course got one of us :)

When we went into labor, my brother-in-law graciously came to pick Eli up for us at the hospital at 1:00 in the morning :) Eli spent the night at their house and played in the morning with his Auntie Gerri, cousin Joy, and cousin Joshua. Once he was up from his nap, Daddy brought him to the hospital to meet his new little brother! He was soo excited!!!

He just loved to look at him, and he gave him kisses and tickled his toes :)

He was one proud big brother :)

One happy family :)My brother Brian also made the trip from Milwaukee to meet our little guy :) We were so happy he could make it!

We're all so excited!

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law came to visit at the hospital too with their 2 kiddos!
Here is Auntie Gerri and cousin Joy getting to meet Baby Ethan for the first time :)

And right before we were about to get our last lunch before we checked out of the hospital, my best friend Claire came for a surprise visit! She came all the way from Milwaukee and didn't even let me know she was coming :) It was so great to see her and get to introduce her to our little Ethan :)

Right before we checked out, we had to get a picture of Ethan in his bassinet with his fun name tag :)

And here we are ready to go :)

Look how tiny he is :)

One last picture before we left when Daddy was getting the car!

And we're home!

Eli was so excited to have us home and was so excited to have his brother home with us :)

Little did Eli know, that during his nap, Grandpa, Uncle Brian and Daddy were putting up another fun surprise for him!

Sheer joy!

Of course before Grandpa and Grandma left we had to get their picture with their new grandson :)

And they took another one of us :)
(Eli was being camera shy so we couldn't get him in the picture.. lol)

But later I was able to get this great one of proud big brother Eli holding his baby brother Ethan :)

Well, we of course have taken a lot more pictures since we've been home, but I figured this was a good amount to start with :)

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement in our lives :)

I hope you enjoyed our story, and I will make a new post sometime soon :)

Love you all!!!

Ultrasound pictures

2009-12-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

Today we had our ultrasound and found out we are going to have another little BOY in our family! Eli is going to have a little BROTHER :) We are so excited to have another little boy in our family and I know it will be so fun for Eli to have a best friend to play with! :) Now that we have seen him it makes it so much more real. I just can't wait to hold him :)

For those of you that don't have facebook, I put a few pictures on here so that you can see some picture of our new little bundle of joy :)

Enjoy! :)

In the ultrasound we got three great profile picture of our little peanut!
Here's # 1!

Here's profile # 2

Here's Profile # 3

This picture shows one of his little feet. It's a little hard to make out but it is right in the middle of the black space. You can see a little of his other foot right behind the front one.

I thought this picture was pretty cool too! This is our baby's spine!

We got a few other pictures but those aren't appropriate for the internet! :)

Praise God for babies!

Fall festivities

2009-11-16T11:05:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone!

I can't believe it is November already! I figured I should get some new pictures on hear for those of you that might be itching to see our cute little Elijah! We have pictures from Halloween, playdates with Eli's cousin Joy, and just fun with Eli!

As far as life at the Tillema's goes, we are doing really well! Eli and I are enjoying these last few nice days outside before winter hits. We have taken a few walks and have journeyed to the park as well. We got to go to the park today actually after I took Eli to get his H1N1 shot, but were only able to stay for a short while. Winter is on its way...

As far as baby # 2 goes, everything is going great so far! I'm feeling pretty good now that the first trimester is over. My only real pregnancy symptom now is tiredness. Well, I suppose the beginning of a baby bump is my other fun sign of pregnancy. Fun news, in less that 3 weeks, we will finally get to find out if we are having a boy or girl! I can't wait! I have had a few people make guesses so far, and the majority think girl. We will see if their predictions are correct soon! We, of course, really simply hope for a healthy kiddo and that is what matters most! But it is fun to find out the sex too! December 3rd is our ultrasound day and we will keep you posted. If you have an inclination as to what you think I may be having, feel free to make a guess on our comment page at the bottom of this post! I'd love to hear what you think!

Also, next weekend is opening deer hunting, which is a very big deal in the Tillema family! Jeff will be going up North next weekend with his Dad, brother, and a few other guys in the Tillema family in hope of shooting that 30 point buck :) They have a great guys weekend up north and in turn, Jeff's mom is going to come to La Crosse to hang out so we can have some fun too! For all of you hunters, good luck next weekend!

Well, that is all the news I have for now so onto the pictures!

Eli was a cute little monkey for Halloween! I was able to get him to make the monkey sound once, and he of course was just adorable!

On Friday, Jeff's office had a Trick-or-Treat time for you to bring your kids in and show off their costumes. He was happy to see Daddy, but was pretty bashful around Jeff's co-workers. He has been getting more and more bashful lately. It's cute but also pretty funny.

Then Saturday we got to take Eli Trick-or-Treating around our neighborhood. We didn't go too far, but we had a fun time. Eli loved running to each new house and ringing the doorbell!

He got a little tired and had us carry him around for a little while. As you can see, he was a little ham.

Then when we got home we thought we should get a picture of Eli with our pumpkin. We were going to carve it, but then we simply ran out of time. Maybe next year! Then I think Eli would really enjoy it.

This may seem to be a quite random picture, but one day last month Jeff can home from work with some beautiful flowers for me. Eli really wanted to see one, then we thought we should get him to pose for a cute picture :)

Now this video isn't very long, but it sure is cute. When we had our friends over one night, the women brought the kiddos into Eli's bedroom. Auntie Gerri was singing no more monkeys jumping on the bed, and in turn the kiddos had fun being jumping beans in Eli's crib. Although they were going against the moral of the song, it was pretty cute.

Well, that's all for now! I'm sure we will have some more fun pictures after the next few weekends. Perhaps if the guys get a deer I could show that do you as well!

Happy Gobble Gobble!

The Summer Finale and Fall Beginnings :)

2009-09-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hello again!!! I figured I have now waited long enough to make a post that everyone has been able to see our last post! It is true! We are having a baby :) We are soo excited and cannot wait! I am 12 1/2 weeks along now. Last week we got to hear our little peanut's heartbeat!!! :) It was sooooooo wonderful and made it so much more real to Jeff and myself :) Our due date thus far is April 29th, and the expected date of arrival due to my expected C-section will be April 22nd, which is three day's after Jeff's Birthday, and of course, RIGHT AFTER tax season. It will be so wonderful! Jeff will get done with his busiest season and then we will get time to relax with our new bundle of joy.

I'm sure many of you are wondering if we are going to find out what we having. And the answer is yes! I cannot wait to find out :) Our scheduled date for our ultrasound is December 3rd. Don't worry, we will keep you posted! Thanks to all of you that have shown so much excitement for our new little one :)

Well, before we made our announcement, both Jeff's family and my family came to La Crosse to celebrate the big news with us! I have a few great pictures to share with you. Some of them I couldn't share with you before because it would have spoiled the surprise :)

I also have some other fun pictures that are from a Buffalo Wild Wings experience, from my cousin's Matt and Alicia's wedding, from Eli's first trip to Chuck E Cheese's and from Eli's bubble bath! He sure does love bubbles!

I hope you enjoy :)

Grandpa Dowe and Grandma Niki came to visit us and our brother and sister-in-law in La Crosse. It worked out nice because we were able to share the big news with them about our new little peanut! While they were here, we were able to take the kiddos swimming at their hotel! Eli loves swimming :)
This is as far as Gerri, myself and the kiddos could get into the hot tub! But it felt good on our feet :)Grandma Niki and Eli had so much fun swimming. He learned to really kick his feet! It was fun to see! :)After swimming we went to Applebee's and they gave Eli and Joy their very own balloons :) He loved it :)The next weekend, Grandpa Jim, Grandma Sue and Great-Grandma Boyden came to visit. Eli sure loves Grandpa Jim. Right when they got to our house, Eli was having fun giving Grandpa Eskimo kisses :) And whisker rubs :)

This time my parents came to visit, we decided to show them a few more things that are fun in La Crosse for us and for Eli! There is a really fun park called Myrick Park that has a huge wooden play area that kids can climb on, run on, slide on and much more. My dad got a picture of us before we let Eli run in :)

Here's Daddy and Eli! So much fun :)

Hooray! Great-grandma Boyden, Grandma Sue, and Me :)After the park, we took a walk down by Riverside! It is so pretty!
Here's all of us minus Grandpa! We should have asked someone else to take the picture!!! But Grandpa does take great pictures!Eli had fun with Great-Grandma playing with the water :)On the walk back, Eli wanted to ride on Daddy's shoulders!Then he loved when we let him run run run!!!Dad got a cool picture of us sitting by the fountain too! We sure had a fun weekend!

We sure had a fun weekend!

The next week we celebrated our friend Kevin's birthday at Buffalo Wild Wings! They had some super cute hats so we of course had to take a picture :)

He also got another balloon :) Woo hoo :)Then October 3rd my cousin Matt and Alicia got married :) My sister-in-law Lisa even did my hair! This is one of my favorite family pictures :)We also got a Conard family picture :)Eli was so funny :)He danced the night away :) He's kind of hard to see.. But you can see him running all over the dance floor.

He danced so much that by the end of the night he was laying on the floor.. lol :)
It was such a beautiful day :) Matt and Alicia are soo happy and finally a member of the Married Cousins Club :)

This past week, Jeff's mom came into town to spend some time with her grand-babies and of course Gerri and myself :) We did some shopping and then took our kiddos to Chuck E. Cheese's :) This was Eli's first time there! So, we of course had to take a few pictures :)

Grandma Niki had fun helping Eli play of few games! In this one he got to use a hammer and hit at different things on the screen :) He was just giggling away!

One of Eli's favorite things is to run and climb. He liked the rides, but he loved when Grandma helped him with the jungle gym :) Maybe next year he will be able to do more of it by himself!!!He was so fascinated by Chuck E Cheese and his friends :) We tried getting a good picture of us, but he kept staring and pointing at the different characters on stage that were dancing and singing :)
We got someone to take a picture of all of us before we left! Hooray for Chuck E. Cheese's :)
This weekend, Jeff and I finally figured out that we can fill the bath tub with bubbles for Eli! His favorite thing in the world is bubbles and he LOVES it! :)Yay for bathtime :)

Well that's all for now :)

Hope everyone is doing well :)

Eli got a new shirt!

2009-09-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hello fun people!

I know this may seem like a silly thing to post about, but we got Eli a new shirt a few weeks ago and I just couldn't help but share this picture with you! Hope you like his shirt as much as we do :)

Many Blessings!

Oh yeah, and did I mention we're having a baby :)

Awesome August :)

2009-08-28T12:32:00.001-07:00

Hello wonderful family and friends!

It is the end of August which means summer is coming to a close :( It has been a fun-filled action packed month for us! We had a bridal shower, a friend's wedding to attend, a Brewer game, swimming and houses to see on our itinerary for the month. Did you catch that? Yes, Jeff and I are officially looking for a house and we are quite excited! We are hoping to find one in the La Crosse area by December and get that awesome tax credit! So.. if you all want to be praying that we find one, that would be fantastic! Thanks :) That, I would say is our exciting news for the month, so let's get to the pictures :)

To start, I figured I could begin with some fun pictures of Eli playing with our hose! I thought he would need a sprinkler or something to have fun, but he just wanted the hose :) I watered the plants and Eli had a blast!
He did get himself wet!

This is my good friend Michelle that got married this month! Eli was quite a ham (unfortunately we caught him mid blink.. ) She was such a beautiful bride :)

He had so much fun dancing that night! He even had girls asking me if they could dance with him! And they were my age :) It was pretty cute!

Now begins pictures from our stay in Milwaukee! We got the visit my brother and sister-in-laws new house this month! It is such a nice place :)

In their back yard they have a really nice swing set/play area! Eli had so much fun!
It even had a steering wheel!
Eli had a blast! I cannot wait until we have a nice backyard :)
For Brian and Lisa's house warming gift, Jeff and I made them a Milwaukee Brewer bean bag toss! We had a lot of fun breaking it in! :)

The next day, our extended family went to a Brewer game! Of course I forgot to bring my camera memory card for the weekend, so I had to borrow these pictures from my dad!

Tailgating :)
During the gameAnd this picture was taken after a Fielder home run :)

It was so fun hanging out with my awesome family! Too bad the Brewers lost. But it was a VERY close game. It came down to the last inning, with Fielder at bat. A home run would have brought it to a tie, and he hit the ball inches away from a home run! It was a fun game to be at though!

The next week, my sister-in-law and I went to the pool with our kiddos! They had a lot of fun! Eli just loves the water, and Joy does too!
Here is our little lifeguard!

So fun!Gerri and Joy! :)Mommy and Eli! And later we got to go down that yellow slide that is behind us! They got to ride on our laps! It was great!

Such cute cousins!

This weekend, Jeff's parents are coming to La Crosse to visit so we are in for some for fun! I hope you all had a great summer! For those of you that are going to school, or have children going back to school, good luck! Even though school is soon to be back in session, and for some of you it already is, let's hope this warm weather stays with us a while :)

God Bless!

Fun-filled July

2009-07-20T21:01:00.001-07:00

Hello wonderful family and friends :)

July has been such a fun month for the Tillema family :) We've gone frisbee golfing, to the fireworks, golfing, swimming, on our family vacation up north and to two weddings!

It has been so wonderful for me (Michelle) to be home with Eli this summer! He is learning more and more how to repeat words from books and also from simply everyday conversation. This week when I read him his word book, he repeated the words: train, dog, woof woof, duck, and apple. It's so fun to watch him learn!!! He also loves playing outside as much as he possibly can. I think his favorite thing to do this summer is to play in the water. He loves pools, beaches and the splash park! We've even found that when he sees a river or lake he says wa-wa :)

Well, I hope you all had a fun July! Here are a few pictures from our many adventures!

Some of you may have seen this picture of Eli on facebook, but I thought I would start the month off with a picture of Eli's first mohawk. :) Jeff was helping get Eli ready before we went frisbee golfing when all of a sudden Eli came running towards me looking so cute! Daddy gave Eli his first mohawk! We of course had to get a picture!

On the 4th of July our friends Natalie and Tim got married here in La Crosse. It was a beautiful day! They ended up having their reception at the Radisson, which happened to be right near the sight of the La Crosse fireworks. We were able to walk right outside from the reception to see some great fireworks! Here's my favorite fireworks picture that Jeff took!

Eli really was very intent on watching them, but since it was 10:00pm and he was pretty tired! Can you tell?Since we were all dressed up, we had to take a picture! Eli and I have gone to the splash park a few times this summer! This picture just makes me smile. He loved that the water would shoot out at him and since he was thirsty he decided to take a drink.July 10th was the beginning of our family vacation. Our vacation was spent at Jeff's parent's cabin in Land O' Lakes. On the way to the cabin we had to stop at our friend's, Abbey and Jeremy, rehearsal dinner. She was actually in my Bible study during my senior year of college! It was so fun to be a part of her big day! This picture was taken right after the rehearsal dinner.
The next day was the wedding! My parents actually came to the cabin and watched Eli for us so that Jeff and I could enjoy the day and not worry about running after Eli since I would be singing. It was the first wedding Jeff and I attended without Eli and it was kind of strange not having him around, especially at the dance! It was so nice getting to dance with Jeffrey though! We actually got tired from all the dancing! Thanks again Mom and Dad!
And here we are!While my parents were at the cabin, my dad took some great pictures! This is the cabin :)My dad also took some great pictures of our little man!

Unlike his father and mother, Eli is a morning person!

Sunday, we all went for a walk to show my my mom and dad the land. Eli had so much fun running through the tall grass and flowers!He also loved getting piggy-back rides from Mommy! :)

Yay! I love my Mom!

Eli was so happy to be up North!This is Eli's favorite truck! He ran around inside and outside with it all week!

We of course had to get a picture of Eli with Grandpa before they left! He loves his grandpa :)

After my mom and dad left, Jeff and I took Eli on a walk! Half way down the trail, we let Eli get out and walk with us! He found some pretty flowers! It was soo cute!

Eli ran and ran and ran!
Another day we attempted the beach. As you can see by the clouds, we didn't stay long. But I was able to get a few cute pictures!
Eli didn't mind that it wasn't 80 degress. He just loves the water! As soon as we took him out of the water we had to wrap him up in a bundle!It was really nice that my parents had the same vacation week as us. After they left the cabin, they went to St. Germain. Wednesday we actually joined them at their hotel and took Eli swimming in their pool! He had tons of fun!
We found a beach ball at the pool, he loved it!
He also loved throwing it into the pool!
Eli also loves the 4-wheeler when we go up north! He looks like such a big kid! Well, kind of.. :) He's just cute!At the end of the week, we actually had nice enough weather to make it to the golf course! Eli was a really good boy! He loved sitting in the golf cart!He also loved joining us on the green. After we would make our puts, he would drop one of our balls into the hole. It was soo cute! It was so nice that there was no one behind us, or ahead of us. We could just relax and enjoy our game! And so could Eli. Off the green we let Eli try to hit the ball. He of course enjoyed that too!

Onto some funny pictures! Now this picture isn't that funny, but the story behind it is. By the last day up north, Jeff and I were tired of the crummy weather and we really wanted to find something fun to do. We put our heads together and created an indoor/outdoor obstacle course. First we had to sprint down the main hallway. Then we had to toss a bean bag into the 3 serparate containers.

After that we had to crawl through Eli's tunnel.Once got through the tunnel we had to run to the front and jump on the 4 wheeler and complete a loop that is on their property.

After we had completely parked the 4-wheeler, we had to run inside, run up the stairs through the loft and flush the toilet. That's right! To signify we were done we had to flush the toilet! It sounds crazy, but Jeff and I had a lot of fun! I was quite proud of us for having such imaginations to create an obstacle course! Eli of course enjoyed watching us as well!

The last day before we left, we finally had dry ground and were able to make a fire and make some smores! A vacation up North isn't a vacation without smores :) We had to make two! Eli liked them too!

Well, last but not least, I thought I should show you what I woke up to on my 25th birthday. I woke up to Jeffrey and Eli bringing me some freshly cooked cinnamon rolls. Then, Eli led me out into the living room through a path of rose pedals to find these beautiful flowers! Jeff is a great husband!

Eli really liked the card that Jeff got me too because it was a musical card! :) It played the song "Pretty Woman."

Wow! That was a lot of pictures! I hope you enjoyed them all! July was action packed! And with us being gone so much I couldn't make a blog until now!

Have a great week everyone :)

Hope to see you soon!

Splish Splash Summertime

2009-06-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

~ Hello again ~

I cannot believe how quickly summer is passing us by! We've been busy, but I still cannot believe that July is only 1 day away.

Not to much is new for us here. We just are having fun in the sun! This month our adventures have included: fun pool adventures, a family golf outing, visiting the splash park here in La Crosse, attending our first wedding of the summer, and Jeffrey attending a week away in Champaign, Illinois for a work conference.

We are now back together again and are excited to see what fun we will have in July!

Enjoy the pictures :)

The beginning of the pictures are from our weekend in Green Bay for our family golf outing.
Grandpa Jim had fun taking a few pics of Eli when we arrived.

Eli relaxing with Daddy! So cute!

Then we let him sit in his own chair :)

You may ask why Eli has the hose attachment in his hand. Well, that was one of his favorite toys during our visit in Green Bay. He used it like a walking stick, a hockey stick, and a golf club! It's pretty funny to see how children use household objects.

Saturday morning Eli had fun with Grandma and Grandpa when they allowed Jeff and myself to sleep in :) They said he was super smiley!

I didn't get any pictures of the golf outing itself, but here is a picture of the winning team. Most teams didn't stand a chance once we found out these 4 guys were paired together. We do a random draw to decide teams and these 4 men, that are all pretty good at golf, got matched together. We all definitely had tons of fun! And as a family Jeff and I were pretty successful! Jeff brought home the team medal and I won women's longest drive : ) Yahoo!

Eli then wanted a piece of the action and wore Jeff's gold medal. Grandpa Jim had been kissing his medals from previous family golf outings before the day began, so I think Eli decided he should do that with Daddy's medal.

Eli also had fun meeting my cousin's Connie and Tom's dog. He was quite scared to begin the evening, but by the end of the night, he warmed right up to her. He had so much fun petting her.

Like I said last time, Eli loves pretending to talk on the phone. In this picture, he is actually talking to himself from phone to phone. I called my cell phone with my house phone and then let Eli talk to himself. He was quite fascinated.. :)

Father's Day weekend, Jeff's cousin Josh got married. We haven't taken any family pictures for a while, so we figured it was time since we were all dressed up!

The babies had fun getting their dance on, but by the end of the night they were ready to just relax with Grandpa Dowe. Grandpa seemed quite happy to hold his two grandkids :)

Last week, Jeff was gone for his work conference so I decided to keep busy with Eli . Monday, some of my girlfriends and I got together with our kiddos at the Onalaska swimming pool. It's a pretty fun place for kids with a really big play area safe for children. Eli loves the water and had a blast playing with his friends and of course the water was shooting out of the play equipment.

The next day, I took Eli to the Splash Park in La Crosse. He had so much fun running from spot to spot chasing where the water would come out of the ground next.

Well, that's it for now. But July has much in store. We have a wedding the 4th and the 11th, and then have our family vacation the week after that! So stay tuned for some more fun pictures to come!

~ Have a Happy 4rth of July!!! ~

School's out for summer

2009-06-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hello wonderful family and friends :)

June is upon us and I, Michelle, now have to privilege to be an official stay at home mommy. May 28th was my last day of teaching preschool, and now I get to enjoy the summer with our little munchkin. My teaching experience was wonderful in so many ways, but now I am quite excited to begin teach our little guy as he is growing leaps and bounds.

Our family has quite a busy summer ahead of us with 6 weddings, a family golf outing, a week in Champaign, Illinois for Jeff's work, a week of vacation up north, and a Brewer game in August. Before the busyness begins, we have begun our summer with many trips to the park. Also, Friday we took out Eli's inflatable pool for the first time this year. He loved it! It's funny though, because this summer he is able to crawl out of it. Last summer he was not mobile. :) But so much fun is ahead of us!

Here are the first few pictures I've gotten of the beginning of our summer together.

Eli still love's playing peek-a-boo. This is right outside our duplex when Eli and and were playing outside one afternoon.

He's already golfing!!! For Eli's birthday we got him a golf set. He loves it! He already knows how to hit the ball with the golf club. Maybe he could join our family golf outing... Maybe in a few years :)

We have a park near our house that we walk to almost everyday. He loves climbing up the steps. I thought they would be too steep for him, but it appears I have underestimated him.

At the top and having so much fun!
He loves going back and forth through the tunnel. He screams (happily) at the top of his voice sometimes because he loves to hear the echo. It is so hilarious.

He's just a cutie pie!
Here's Eli at the top of the slide. He is such a dare devil. He is able to go down all by himself. I of course catch him at the bottom :)

He is fascinated by the "tire" swing. He's watched big kids playing on it, so when they weren't there, he went over at started pushing it. I, of course, had to help prevent him from knocking himself in the face.

This picture is right outside our front window. Eli sat himself down and had so much fun playing with the rocks.

This is one of Eli's favorite things to do when we are inside. When he finds socks, he hands them to us and asks us to put them on his hands. Then he runs around and claps his hands.

Last week, I had fun at the park with my friend Bethany and her daughter Briella. Unfortunately Eli wouldn't sit still to get a picture with Briella, but I could some funny ones of him. He discovered dirt for the first time and had fun pouring it all over his legs.

He was completely covered!!!
When he was done he decided to start offering some of the dirt to me. It was pretty cute.

As you can see, this is after he rubbed the dirt in his face. We had to give our babies baths as soon as we got back to her house. It was so much fun!
This is Eli's first day in his pool! This picture looks kind of silly, but I was able to capture him having fun splashing away in the water!

Daddy had fun splashing him a little bit too!

Lastly, Eli has taken up the hobby of talking on the phone. If he finds one of our phones around the house, he will pick it up and just start talking. Yesterday, he talked on the phone for at least two minutes. I wonder who he was talk too :) Of course he doesn't talk when someone is actually on the other end of the phone however. Then he just smiles :)

I had to catch a picture of Eli and Daddy before bedtime. You can never get enough father-son pictures!

Tonight Jeff decided we needed another picture of Eli and Mommy before I sent this out!
Well, that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed our pictures!

God Bless!

Easter Pictures and more!

2009-04-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

I hope you all had a great weekend! We sure did! My mom and dad came to La Crosse this weekend and we had a great time despite of the crummy weather. We went for a few walks (and didn't get wet), played some cribbage and celebrated Jeff's b-day. I also was able to download Easter pictures and other great pictures from my dad while they were here so I can finally get new pictures up! Thanks Grandpa Jim!

For us, life after tax season is wonderful! Last weekend we got to go on a 4 day vacation up north to celebrate both the end of tax season and Jeff's 25th birthday! We are so excited to have more time as a family again! It's crazy for Jeff and I to get home from work at the same time. We enjoy it so much! It will be fun to see what we can do with this new free time!

Well, that's our only news so onto the pictures! Enjoy!

The pictures begin when I went to visit my parents in Green Bay the Friday and Saturday before Easter (during the last weekend of tax season). I arrived in Green Bay Friday afternoon and then went for a nice walk with my dad and Eli while my mom finished up her work! We stopped at the park and had a lot of fun!

Eli ran around the park with his soccer ball when we arrived to the park. He still loves playing with balls!

Then I took him down the slide!Whee!

When my mom got done with work, we went over to my grandma's house! We had to get a 4 generations picture!Then Eli was having fun flying and giving Grandma and Great-Grandma kisses!Smooches for Great-Grandma!Then he smiled for the camera!The next day Eli had fun playing outside in my parents front yard! He really liked watching and playing with the windmill!
My dad took some great close-ups of Eli!So precious!He's such a big boy now! He loves to explore and walk everywhere!

Grandma Sue, Elijah and Mommy :)

Eli always has fun with Grandma and Grandpa! :)

Before I left, my dad took this great picture of Eli and me! This is one of my new all-time favorites!

Onto a few Easter pictures!
When Eli woke up in the morning he found his basket in the middle of our living room! He was soo excited!

He dug right in!

He loved playing with the plastic Easter eggs.

We of course had to take a picture of him later that day with his first chocolate bunny!

He loved it!

Daddy and our little boy!

Happy Easter!

The next day Eli had so much fun playing with his Easter basket! He really like the grass inside :)

Onto vacation pictures!

The first day we got up north it was beautiful! We got to play outside quite a bit! Within the last month, Eli has learned to kick around his soccer ball! It's so cute! He definitely will be our little soccer player!Then Daddy walked around with Eli! It was just so nice!

Then he walked over and sat down on the deck! Looks like he wanted his picture taken! :)

Then we took a walk down by the lake! Eli and Daddy were very photogenic!

Although it was 70 degrees, there was still snow on the ground. We were quite confused. Before we left, we figured out why.Eli had so much fun crawling up and down the stairs at the cabin! He made it to the top of the landing here and was ready to keep going!

Happy 25th Birthday Daddy! I think Eli wasn't sure what to make of the candles.

This is what it looked like right before we left! It looked and felt like it should be Christmas. But its April... It was very beautiful though! It snowed about 6 inches in the morning and was still going strong when we left.

These last pictures are the first of all the ones my dad got from this weekend. He takes such great pictures!

Eli of course made funny faces for the camera!!!Oh now I'm going to be bashful.Then he gave Grandpa a great smile! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Grandpa with Eli, because he of course was taking all the pictures.Last but not least, he got a great picture of Eli with Daddy! Thanks again for coming Mom and Dad!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Have a great week!

Happy Easter!!!

2009-04-11T20:30:00.001-07:00

Today is such a wonderful day, for we get to celebrate the promise of new life that we were given when Jesus died for our sins and then rose again for us :) It's been a fun day for the Tillema's. Jeffrey, Eli and myself had fun this morning as Eli found his Easter basket (that was in the middle of our living room floor). After checking out his basket, we enjoyed a wonderful Easter mass together and then shared a family dinner, just the three of us, of steak, mashed potatoes, corn and croissant rolls. Although that is not the typical Easter dinner, we decided for our Easter meal that would be great (because that is our favorite family meal). Jeff is a great cook, and since just the three of us were together, it was perfect. After lunch we took a nice family nap and now I'm excited to see what tonight entails. We are planning on going out for a nice family meal, to I believe TGIF's, so that we can relax and not need to worry about more cleaning. Then we'll let Eli try his chocolate bunny. Pictures will soon follow.

Obviously, this Easter we didn't get to celebrate with our extended families, due to tax season and Jeff's work load, but I did get to visit my mom and dad with Eli Friday and Saturday. We had so much fun. Eli got to show them how great of a walker he is and how he loves to explore everything. Eli is growing leaps and bounds now. He has started using words (dada, mama, ba=ball, ba-ba=bottle, and up to name a few). He is exploring everything, and getting faster and faster everyday.

Exciting news, Jeff only has three days left of tax season!!! We are so excited to have more family time again. After I get done with work Thursday, we are going to take a family trip up north to Jeff's parents cabin to enjoy some much needed family time for 4 full days.

My job is going quite well. Last month, I put on my first set of conferences ever. They all went really well. It's exciting to put my degree into practice. I have three more weeks in April, then all of May and will be done teaching May 28th. Then summer! It's great being a teacher and knowing that summers are always going to be with my kiddos. This week with Eli has been so fun!

Other than that, with Eli being such an explorer, I have been trying to find the best play area to bring him this summer! So far, I think the best place is the park across from my brother-in-law Aaron and his wife Gerri's new house. They just got all moved in and it is so exciting!

Well, I have tons of pictures, so I can tell you more as you see them. I can't make as many updates, because our computer's USBs aren't working yet, so when I was in Green Bay, I imported all the pictures I had at my parents house. So I have some pictures from almost two months ago on here, and it all begins from my girls weekend that I had the last weekend of February. Fourteen of my girlfriends from college all met together in the Wisconsin Dells and we had a blast. It may be a little while before I have pictures from Green Bay and from Easter, but I still have many fun pictures, so enjoy!

Here are most of the girls that went on our girls weekend to Wisconsin Dells! We had so much fun swimming, shopping and just catching up with each others lives!

One evening some of us girls went down to the arcade and these are the prizes that Claire and I won!!! We were so excited :)

When I got home Eli helped me do the laundry! He loves putting clothes on his head!!

One afternoon Eli was hanging out with daddy on the couch and I had to get a picture :)

My friends Claire and Adam are moving into a house in May so I watched their daughter Bella one afternoon. When Eli woke up from a nap, they were both so excited to see each other they started dancing! :)

Later that day I went on a walk with my mother-in-law. They came into town to work on Jeff's brother and sister-in-law's house, and Niki took care of Joy.

When they woke up we went to the park across the street from their house and they had so much fun!

Eli's favorite thing to do is climb! There is some great equipment with stairs that lead up to a slide! Eli loved the stairs!

Joy loved the slide!

Here is our new Jeep that we bought from Jeff's parents! It's an exciting change from Jeff's '95 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra that didn't have functioning blinkers, had broken interior and 205,000+ miles on it! Eli loves riding in it! He is so much higher and can see through the front window!

One evening when I was waiting for Jeff to come home I took Eli for a walk to the park over by our house. It wasn't that dark outside, but I think the lighting looks cool!

This picture shows Eli's excitement that he climbed to the top of our stairs! Gotta love the jersey too :)

Also, now that it's getting nice outside, Eli loves just running around our house! We have a little sidewalk on the side of our house that he runs back and forth on.

On one of my Mondays off, Eli and I met our friends Bethany and Briella at McDonald's play land. We had a lot of fun!

Eli loved the big kid play area!

Another afternoon, I got to watch Joy when her mommy and daddy were moving! Eli and Joy had so much fun with the tunnel that he got for his birthday! I wasn't able to get a picture of it, but they would meet in the middle and kiss each other :)

Eli loves his tunnel!

So fun!

One evening after Jeff got done with work, we brought Eli to the Burger King play land! Eli had a great time!

Thanks for coming dad :)

He loved turning the wheel! The other side had propellers that would spin.

On a nice afternoon, I brought Eli to Myrick Park!

He had a lot of fun running around!

As I said, I have been trying to find the best play area for Eli. One afternoon, Eli and I met Bethany and Briella at the play area at Menards! They have a inside play area with all kinds of outdoor equipment! The kiddos had so much fun!

They liked playing together on the bridge!

Eli liked this play area the most!

Cheese!

Lastly, when I was shopping at the mall, I stopped to let Eli look at all of the games! He went straight for the guitar! Family and friends, I think we have a musician among us!

I hope you all had a great Easter!

Happy Birthday Elijah!!!

2009-02-27T09:29:00.001-08:00

Our little boy is one year old! The time has gone by so fast! We had so much fun last weekend with our family and friends celebrating the 1st year of Elijah's life! Eli loved every part of the weekend! He loved playing with family and friends, he loved the presents, and he of course liked cake and ice cream too!

Saturday, the 21st (his real day), Grandpa Jim, Grandma Sue, Grandpa Dowe, Grandma Niki, Uncle Kevin, Uncle Aaron, Auntie Gerri, and cousin Joy came to celebrate! Eli was a ham and was so good! He loved opening his presents, and he even enjoyed looking at the cards! Cake and ice cream was fun too! He was such a messy boy :)

Then on Sunday some of Eli's friends came to party! He had so much fun and is thankful for all the people that shared in his special day!

Before I start with the birthday pictures, I have a few other ones from the month that were too cute to pass over!

Enjoy!!!

This is Eli's favorite bath towel! Bath time is his favorite!

I just love this one! Eli thinks it's so funny when we set him on his toy box! He was all smiles!

Now I must admit, these pictures were somewhat planned, but we needed a cute picture for Eli's birthday invitation! I thought you all might enjoy them too! He's growing up so much!

So much fun!

Now onto birthday pictures :)

Eli loved the balloons we had all around our house! I think it was one of his favorite things to play with!

This is Eli during his birthday song! He just stared and stared at the candle! :)

He was definitely hesitant at first..

but then he dug right in!

When he was done, he started clapping! It was soo cute!

Then we let him try some ice cream! This picture cracks me up!

This pictures sums it up! So much fun!

Mommy with her birthday boy!
It's bath time!!!

Boy did he need a bath!

All clean! Daddy did a great job cleaning him up!

Before the family left, the guys had fun playing Mario Kart! Eli had fun watching!

I love Grandpa and Grandma!!!

The next morning grandma and grandpa came over and enjoyed some time alone with Eli while Jeff and I went to church. He had so much fun giggling with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Sue!

Yay!!!

When we got home, we had to get him ready for his next fun party! He was soo excited!

Eli had some fun friends come to play at his birthday party!

This is his best friend Isabella! He was so happy she came to play!

This is his friend Briella! She is two months younger than Eli and is so much fun!

This, of course, is his favorite cousin Joy! She turned one 18 days before him! So much fun! :)You may have noticed of of his friends are girls.. we will have to work on that! :) Eli, of course, was thankful that his little friends famlies came along too!

Cake #2 was so yummy!

He is learning to share and was offering some to our friend Micah :)

All done! "I'm an angel Mom!"

Yay for birthdays!!!

He had so much fun opening presents! He got some cute pjs and decided to play peek-a-boo with them! He did that both days whenever he opened any clothes! He would put them on his head then, Peek!! :)

That night we had fun playing in his new tent! We played peek-a-boo in there too!
We had so much fun celebrating his first birthday and want to thank all of you that helped make it so special!

For those of you that couldn't make it, I hope you enjoy these fun pictures!!! Thanks for loving us from where you are! We are blessed to have such wonderful families and friends!

He's almost a 1-year-old :)

2009-01-27T18:34:00.000-08:00

Hello again!

Woo hoo!!! The USB chord that allows me to get pictures on the computer worked again! It is quite touchy! So I have a few more fun pictures that are from the new year! I forgot to tell you that Eli learned to play peek-a-boo this month! It is soo much fun! Enjoy some fun pictures!

I know I usually post great pictures of Elijah smiling, but this time I thought this grumpy picture of Eli was so funny! He makes a lot of great faces!

Last week I decided to give Eli some yogurt. I could tell he wanted to try to feed himself so I figured what harm would be done if he got a little messy! I figured it could be a fun hands-on learning experience :)

Notice the before picture..
He sure did enjoy it! He even tried drinking it! He did get messy!
This is the grand finale! He was covered and loving it!
Daddy then took Eli for a bath! Fun father son time :)
One of Eli's favorite rooms to play in is the bathroom.. I'm not sure why, but he really does like it! Here's a picture of him playing peek-a-boo with me with the shower curtain.
"Where's Eli?"
Peek-a-boo :)

Later that day Eli was a little snuggler with Daddy!

Hugs and...

Kisses :)

This is Eli's latest funny face. He breathes deep with his lips pursed. It's really funny to watch!

Yesterday we had spaghetti for supper! Eli got a little messy!

He LOVED it!Oh, did I mention he found his nose?

Lastly we had to get a picture of Eli cleaning up! He loves bath-time :)

Hope you enjoyed these pictures as much as I do!

Happy 2009!!!

2009-01-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

Hello to all of our wonderful family and friends!

It has been soo long since we have been able to make a post on here. Our home computer got a virus and we haven't had time to fix it. Luckily Jeff has a work computer so I am finally able to update you about our ever changing and exciting lives!

Well, I have not even made a post telling you about the wonderful Christmas celebrations we had with both families and friends so I will start by telling you about that! Elijah's favorite thing about Christmas was our Christmas tree (by far)! The ribbons, the presents, and the paper didn't come close to his fascination with any Christmas tree in sight! This made having a tree at home someone difficult so we eventually moved it up on top of our end table (Thank goodness we still have a smaller sized tree!). It was so fun to celebrate our first Christmas with our favorite present (Eli himself) and with all our friends and families! We loved all the time we got to spend with each of you!

After Christmas, we had a fun New Year's Party at our house! I was in a Fantasy Football league at work, and just happened to win the whole thing, so Jeff and I decided to put our winnings (and a little Christmas money) towards and new flat screen television! We were a little spoiled this year! Jeff got a Wii for Christmas, so we were able to play some fun games with our friends to bring in the New Year!

As far as Jeff and I go, Jeff is finally done taking all of his CPA exams. We haven't found out his last score yet, but we are pretty sure it was a success! Now it's on to tax season. He told me in the next few weeks it will probably really start to pick up. April 15th will sure be a wonderful day for him (and for me and Elijah :) ).

I started my preschool job this month and have been having so much fun! I started teaching about our awesome alphabet this month! I've had so much fun getting to teach and know each child. One fun thing I was able to do was bring in my guitar to sing and play music with them. I brought it in as we explored the letter "G" and the sound it makes, and then I helped them make their own guitars to play and bring home! It was so much fun! Last week we was fun too because we had a pajama day to celebrate learning about the letter "P". So far, it's been a blast! I have two great groups of kids (a morning group and an afternoon group). I've also been able to teach the children about Jesus starting each day with a morning prayer, and teaching them ways to be more like Jesus each day! This job seems like a perfect fit!

Eli is growing leaps and bounds! He's crawling sooo fast and is very curious! He's starting to get into everything. He walks across all the furniture with ease and I think walking is right around the corner! We tricked him into taking a mini step as we had him walk between Jeff and myself. I've been told that will make things even more crazy at home, but we are excited, nonetheless, to see our little boy walking.

Well, I think that is all I have to share for now, so I will share with you all the pictures we have from December. I am unable to get our recent pictures on this computer because the USB that connects my camera to the computer isn't working now either.. :( Hopefully soon we can get everything back working. Jeff is building us a new computer so we are hoping to have our normal computer up and running soon! I'll probably wait to see if it's the cord or or the computer that isn't allowing me to use our new pictures.

These first few pictures are still from Thanksgiving! I wasn't able to get the pictures from my parents before I made my last post and they took some cute ones :)

Mommy and Eli at Grandma and Grandpa Conard's house :)

Grandpa Jim got out a bowling ball for Eli to play with and Eli loved it! He still likes playing with balls!

Eli is having fun with his walker in this one :) Sticking out his tongue as usual!

Eli has so fun with my dad! He kept taking off his glasses and then giving them back! In this picture, it appears Eli is just exploring my dad's in the face...

Eli also loves just relaxing with Grandma Sue! I thought this picture was so cute!!!

Here's a picture to remind you how flexible babies are! :) Also, because I just thought it was cute!

He's our little smiley boy!

Look at me grandpa :)

Here's Eli by his first Christmas tree! We had to get a family picture of course :)
Eli has really started kissing! His version of kissing however is opening his mouth and slobbering all over you! So be ready :)
Eli just being a charmer!

Here's Eli's first snow suit! I actually got him to smile!

Here are a few pictures from Eli's first Tillema family Christmas! Here's Eli with Grandpa Dowe, happy as can be!

Here's Eli opening his very first Christmas present! He looks happy, but after this one he had to lay down for a nap before he opened the rest of them.. It is hard to plan events around two babies and their sleeping schedules. He woke up later and had a fun time opening the rest though!

This is one of the fun presents he got from Grandpa Dowe and Grandma Niki!

Mommy and Eli :)

We needed one with Daddy two of course!

Now onto pictures from our first immediate family Christmas! All those presents are in front of Elijah, but all that he sees is the tree! Imagine that!

This picture expresses how excited he was to open his presents... He was sad that we wouldn't let him pull down our Christmas tree! He did twice before this picture was taken... This will be funny to show him some day :)

Jeff was a little more excited to open his presents :)

So was I :) Jeff and Eli got me some pretty earings!

This is my big prize from winning fantasy football! It's quite a change from the 19" we had before this. The TV we were using I had used since I was around 6 years old. It was a great TV, but this was quite an upgrade! Eli's favorite thing that will always make him happy is his Praise Baby DVD. It's really neat! This shows how fascinated he is when it is playing!

Now onto the pictures from my side of the family! I had to of course get another picture of Eli going after the tree :)

We had taken some pictures of Eli with Santa at the mall and he was quite a ham.. Christmas Eve, however was quite another story.. I'm not quite sure what was going through his mind.. We'll let you make the interpretation.Eli always has fun with my cousins younger cousins Will, Seth and Lily. Seth was getting Eli to laugh and laugh before present opening began.

It's always fun to see Great Grandma! He was all nestled on her lap and getting ready for bed.

We took this right before we left! We always need a family picture! Right after this we brought Eli home and he went right to bed.

The next morning Eli woke up and was ready to go! He got this gift from my aunt and uncle Bart and Laura and he had a blast with it! He loves hitting the balls together, making baskets, and playing with the other toys on it too!"What can I get into next?"

Eli had so much fun with Grandma Sue too! Merry Christmas!

Oooo.. an ornament.. that makes noise! Eli had fun trying to eat this one.. Don't worry, we kept close watch over him!

Next we have a surprise face competition going on. I went in with my parents to get Jeff his big Christmas present, so he knew before Christmas what he was getting. He decided Christmas morning to make his best surprised/excited face. What do you think?

My dad also knew about this gift and this is how he expressed surprise.. You make your vote who you think made the best face! My mom and I were greatly amused!

Eli got some great books from Grandma and Grandpa that I love to read to him!

It's always fun with Grandpa Jim!

Grandma Sue got Eli a special towel for when we are at their house ! How cute!

The next day my brother and Lisa came to celebrate Christmas with us! We were so happy to see them too!Eli got a little more into the wrapping paper! He is our favorite present!

Just relaxing checking out his ornament.

One happy family! We sure did have a very Merry Christmas! :)

Hopefully we can make another update soon. We have more funny pictures to share with you! :)

9 months and on the move : )

2008-11-25T14:24:00.001-08:00

Hello family and friends :)

I realized today it has been quite a while since I have updated our blog, and there is a lot of new things happening in the Tillema household. Our little boy is on the move! He's crawling, pulling up to stand, trying to stand on his own and now starting to walk with the assistance of his walker! He gets so excited! He pushes it forward and can walk across the living room :)

He is also teething like crazy! He has 3 new teeth with one still working its way in on the top of his mouth. So he is all full of drool almost all the time :)

Eli is also getting way closer to sleeping through the night :) Last week he slept from 10:30- 8, and 11-9! It was soo exciting!

We have other exciting news in our family that actually pertains to me! Two weeks ago I applied for a long-term subbing position in a 3-5 year-old preschool at a Catholic Church in West Salem. Last Friday I had an interview and found out the same day that I got the job :) I will be teaching Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8:15 am - 2:30 pm, January 6th - May 28th! I have a lot of lesson planning ahead of me :) Also, I am very lucky because my best friend Claire will be watching Elijah for me on those days :)

Another fun fact, last Thursday Jeff finished his 3rd (out of 4) CPA exam. He said he thinks this one went the best so far! (His first one he got 98/99!)

Other than that, we've had a lot of fun getting to see our families over the past few weeks. Three weekends ago, my mom came into town and we had our first ever mother-daughter weekend! We had so much fun! We went shopping, went out to Friday's for dinner, and watched a movie (at least I did, my mom was sleepy) At Fridays, Eli got to taste some pineapple, chicken and mashed potatoes. He was ecstatic. Thanks again for coming mom!

The next weekend, Jeff's brother Kevin was in the Mosinee High School play, 42nd street. He performed and sang wonderfully!

Last weekend I took a short trip to Green Bay because Jeff went hunting with the guys for opening weekend. Unfortunately he didn't see any deer. But he saw a few other wild animals. I had a fun time just relaxing with the family and I know he had a great time with the guys and enjoying the outdoors. He told me there was 5 inches of snow already! I am not ready for winter!

Well on to the pictures. . . Enjoy :)

This is taken at the end of our Mother-Daughter weekend :) Eli had so much fun with Grandma Sue :)

Such fun!

We thought was should get one of the family when Jeffrey got home from hunting :)This is Eli's walker! He loves getting up and pushing it around! This is one of the first days that he got up. "Look mom, one hand!"Mommy with her baby boy!These are from Kevin's play weekend! The babies were great throughout the whole play! At the very end Gerri and I had to go to the back to bounce our babes and try to get them to sleep. Neither of them quite got to sleeping... as you can see!Can you tell which one was in the play? :) Here's the Tillema guys with their gals. Married with children :)Eli excited to be walking!Here he is walking down our long hallway!Cheese! This week Eli has begun sticking his tongue out non-stop! I think it is a part of his teething process.Hi Grandpa Jim! Eli had so much fun playing with my dad this weekend!
Eli got to see how his walker can even turn into a little car! He was pretty fascinated!Well that's all for now!

Tomorrow we're packing up and driving to Green Bay to spend Thanksgiving with my family! Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble!

The wonderful life of Tigger

2008-11-01T15:52:00.000-07:00

Hello Family and Friends!

Now that Halloween is over, I figured it was time for another post. Jeff, Eli and I have had a fun few weeks here La Crosse enjoying both our friends and the nice weather! Two weekends ago we were able to go to one of our friend's houses in Gaillsville , about 25 minutes north of La Crosse, and go on a nice nature walk/hay ride with bunch of our friends. The weather was gorgeous and the scenery was splendid! Our friend Tim owns a farm so we were able to walk through corn stalks, eat some soy beans and simply enjoy walking outside in the awesome weather.

Last week, we were able to have a costume party on Wednesday and we were also able to bring Eli trick-or-treating at Jeff's office on Friday! That allowed Eli to wear his Tigger costume multiple times this week! He didn't seem to mind his costume at all. It was quite funny when it was time for him to take a nap , because his belly was so fluffy that he was raised a couple inches off the bed! It didn't seem to affect him at all! Eli looked so cute. I suppose I could just move onto the pictures! :)

This picture just makes me laugh! We had heard numerous stories about how children would jump so much that they would fall asleep in their jumperoo. I did not believe that would ever happen to Eli because he isn't the easiest to get to sleep. One evening; however, Jeff and I were shocked when we looked over to find our son asleep! He must have been really tired!

This is the beginning of the pictures from the hay ride. We all piled onto the back of the truck (some were inside the truck) and were ready for an adventure!

Our friend Serena had a fun idea for us all to get into the corn and pretend that we were the corn! Can you see us? :)

Eli was quite interested in the corn!

This is probably my favorite picture from the day!

When we got back, Eli had fun playing with this little drum set! He loves hitting things so this was the perfect toy for him!

Isn't this face classic? Eli was not a very big fan of putting on his winter hat and gloves... We could be in for a long winter!Now onto pictures from the costume party!

Eli and Briella were just so cute! I wanted to get a picture of the three babies but my niece Joy was afraid of me. I had used face paint to put little whiskers on my face, so every time she would look at me she would cry. Needless to say, my plan to get a picture of all the babies didn't quite work. Joy was a cute little bunny with a cute little red nose a white fluffy tail :) Eli almost looks like he was trying to pose like a tiger here :)

Unfortunately we weren't able to get a family picture either because our little stinker got his costume all dirty! Jeff was Clark Kent and I was a tiger! I got another cute picture of Eli in his jammies before the night was through! Doesn't this picture just say hug me all over it? Thursday, our landlord was pouring cement to make a small walkway in our back yard. I took Eli outside so he could see a the big truck! He seemed quite interested! He also enjoyed playing with the leaves! I just had to make sure he wasn't putting them in his mouth!

Now onto the pictures from Halloween!

I got Eli in his costume earlier in the day so I could bring him outside to get some pictures of him in his cute costume! I was quite pleased with how the pictures turned out!

Then, at 4 o'clock, I brought Eli to Jeff's office! Eli got to go Trick-or-treating for the first time! He got a lot of good candy for mommy and daddy :)

Eli was happy to see Daddy!

He tried eating some of the candy! Good thing the wrappers are sturdy! He really wanted to eat this Kit-Kat! The chocolate got really mushy!

That night I had to waitress, so I got to dress up too! I was a tiger so I could be Tigger's mommy :)

That's all for now! I hope you are all enjoying this amazing weather! We can only hope it lasts!

Brian and Lisa's Wedding

2008-10-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

Hello to all! I just wanted to let you know.. if you didn't know already, that my brother is a newly married man! October 9-11th we got to go to Milwaukee to celebrate his special day with him and his bride Lisa! The weather was beautiful, the ceremony was wonderful and everyone had a great time! It was so much fun getting to be a part of their big day! Eli was a little angel all day too! :)

Unfortunately, I didn't take a lot of pictures since I was in the wedding, but I figured I should post the few that I have! Hopefully I will be getting more to post soon! My brother and his wife Lisa are now enjoying wonderful weather and an all inclusive resort near Cancun, Mexico and I cannot wait to hear how their trip went!

I will be making another post soon! That's all for now!

Before we went to the rehearsal, Eli had fun crawling around and playing at our hotel. This ball is his new favorite toy! He can now hold himself up standing against furniture! Grandpa Jim is quite the photographer and he captured the moment! Isn't this cute?

Here's the beautiful bride right after she got her dress on before she walked down the aisle! She looked like a princess!

I got a couple pictures of the first dance!
They are just so happy! I had to capture the moment!

Eli was such a good boy! I think the light on the camera was bright for him! ;)

Eli and Daddy! :)
Jeffrey did a great job taking care of Eli all day! Since I was in the wedding, he was on baby duty! Jeff is such a great Dad!

We had to get a family picture of us all since we matched so well ! :)

Well that's all for now! We love you and hope to see you all soon!

October here we come!!!

2008-09-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

Wow! I cannot believe it is almost October! In less than two weeks, my brother Brian is getting married!!! I am so excited!!! My brother's wedding marks the last wedding of the year for our family and friends!!! It will be a great wedding to end on! We were invited to a total of 10 weddings this summer/fall and it has been a blast (and quite busy)!!! I'm excited after my brother's wedding to spend a few weekends in La Crosse before the holidays :)

Last month we went to two family weddings! My cousin John got married mid-September in Green Bay and Jeff's cousin Brandon got married last weekend in Plover! It's so wonderful getting to see family members enter into the wonderful gift of marriage!! It was great getting to dance and celebrate with all of you that were there!! Also, I must give our son credit for continuing to be such a good traveler :)

Other news... Two weeks ago now, Eli started to army crawl! He's mobile! It's so fun! He still is pretty slow, but it's crazy to see him move! He rocks on all fours like he wants to crawl, but his brain and body haven't quite mastered that skill yet! It's so fun to watch him try!

Also, Eli is starting to learn to pull to stand! He's getting so strong! He also is making some fun sounds that Jeff and I like to hear.. Mamama and Dadadada :) Not that he has any idea what he is saying, but it is sure fun to hear! Last month he also was in an extreme voice exploration stage! He would either talk in a real low raspy voice, or he would like to screech in a real high voice! I never new what voice I would wake up to in the morning! Eli is usually real talkative in the morning... It was funny when I would wake up to Eli making deep raspy sounds!

Well, I guess I will tell you the rest of the story as I narrate the pictures :)

This is one of my favorite pictures of Eli yet! We got this outfit from our best friends the Zastrow's and I was so glad that it cooled down for the few weeks it did! He fit into it a few times and I think within a month he already has out grown it! Isn't it a sweet vest? We will definately be saving this outfit for our next boy!

Eli has so much fun Packer gear to support his favorite team! Before the game, Eli had fun getting a ride in the laundry basket!

September 11th, we took a trip to Green Bay to take part in a family golf outing before my cousin's wedding! My good friend Natalie Gremore watched Elijah for us! She has two cute babes of her own! Eli had so much fun playing with them! Samuel is the first boy that Eli actually got to play with :) He's a month younger, but he is definitely bigger than our little guy! Thanks again Natalie for taking care of him for us!!!

Eli loved her daughter Gretta! And, I'm pretty sure she loved him as well! To narrate this picture for you.. Natalie told me that Gretta wanted to hold Eli, so she helped prop Eli on Gretta's lap! Gretta got quite a surprise when Eli tooted on her lap:) Natalie captured the moment on camera!!!

She forgave him though! When I came to pick him up, Natalie was teaching Gretta to say Eli! It's crazy to see how much a year can do in a child's growth and development!!! Here's just another cute picture of Eli and Gretta!

The next day before the wedding Grandpa Jim had fun playing with his grandson! Eli liked playing with grandpa's whiskers! Eli liked being snuggled next to Grandpa too!Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures at the wedding on my camera... We had so much fun! The wedding was beautiful! John and Kim got married at Lambeau field! We had such a fun time! Eli behaved quite well during the ceremony! He didn't make a peep! Then we all had fun dancing the night away! Jeff and I even got to get out on the dance floor and swing dance :)

The next weekend we had a weekend to relax in La Crosse...or I had a weekend to relax. Jeff studied all weekend for his 2nd CPA exam part! His test is this Thursday, October 2nd, so please remember to pray for him to attain all of the information he needs as he finishes his studies this week! He got a 98/99 on his first one, so let's hope he can keep that up!

While he was studying, I went to the Riverside Park with Elijah! Eli was supporting his Badger gear and I had to capture the moment!

September 23rd was Eli's best friend Isabella's 1st birthday! When we were singing and enjoying chocolate cupcakes, Eli had fun playing with his favorite new toy! He can stand up against it and interact with so many fun toys!

Isabella liked her birthday treat!!!

Mommy and Bella right before her bath! Claire made Bella a special shirt for her special day!

The next day was Claire's birthday! I got to spend the afternoon with her as she took care of Bella and Joy! She is doing in-home daycare now, and watches Joy, my niece, 3 days a week! Claire got a wonderful b-day present! All the babies were wonderful!!! They had a blast playing together!

This is one of the toys we got for Isabella for her b-day! While I was at their house I let Eli play in it! He loved it! I hope she does too!

That evening, Gerri and I went for a walk and for dinner down by by the river! I've gotten to take a lot of walks down at Riverside lately and it has been wonderful! We decided we should get some more pictures of our babes playing together before we left! They can sit up now! They are growing so fast! The last time we got pictures of them outside together, we had to lay them in the grass! Look at them now!

We don't have many pictures of Eli in the tub! I just thought this was cute! Look at all of his toys!

He just started to learn how to pull up to stand! This is when things start getting dangerous!

Now we're on to pictures from this past weekend! Don't we all look nice!!! Unfortunately Jeff's dad had to work Saturday afternoon preparing for his week in New York. We got some pictures of him later though!

Here's Joy being a ham and looking oh so beautiful! :)

Funny story... After the dinner, Eli decided to poo through his diaper all over his clothes.. I went to get an extra shirt for him to change into in the car, and found out we didn't pack one.. We had to borrow a white onesie from a friend of a friend! Whoops! So Eli got to enjoy the rest of the evening dressed quite casually! :) He didn't mind! And of course he was still cute! :)

We got this right before we left!

Here are some of my favorite pictures! We went to Walmart on the way back to Mosinee and picked up a shirt for Eli! It just so happened that they had baby Packer Jerseys! We couldn't resist! We also finally got some Packer clothes for us too!

Grandpa got the first picture with our little Packer star Sunday morning! We had to catch a picture fast before he left for New York Sunday morning. Eli loves his Grandpa!

Eli and Daddy

Look at those baby blues!

Eli watching the game!

Go Pack Go! The Packers may have lost, but we will always support the Green and Gold!

Uncle Kevin was so good at getting Eli to smile and giggle!

We got one last picture of Grandma with Eli before we left! How cute!

And for everyone's viewing pleasure... I took a video today of Eli doing the army crawl!!! Pay close attention to the end...There's a little suprise...

Have a great October!

Stay tuned....

He's 6 months!!!

2008-09-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it is September already? I sure can't. The summer went by way too fast! Well it's been a whole month since I posted last so I have many pictures and stories to share! Eli now has two teeth and is on the verge of crawling! He can get up on all fours, but then doesn't quite know what to do from there! Soon though, I think our son will be crawling!

In the month of August we had two bridal showers, one wedding and our family vacation! We've had so much fun getting to visit our family and friends! We had a wonderful 9 day vacation, just the three of us, at Jeff's parents cabin up North!

My favorite piece of news from last month is that Elijah is almost completely sleeping through the night! The past few nights he slept between 5 1/2 - 7 1/2 hours at a time! I'm finally going to start getting some good solid sleep! It is perfect timing too because in the fall I have decided to start substitute teaching Mondays and Wednesdays! We are so blessed that my best friend Claire is doing in-home day care! Eli has so much fun playing with Claire's daughter Bella, and Claire, of course, is great with Eli!

Well, without further ado...here are the pictures!

Eli's trying to crawl...I just cleaned out Eli's dresser and put all the clothes away that Eli doesn't fit in anymore today. I cannot believe how small he used to be! He is now 16 lbs 12 oz and 26 1/4 inches long! He has over doubled his birth weight!

For my birthday I got a jogging stroller! I love it and so does Eli! He loves looking around! And he also loves taking naps :) This is Eli right after he woke up from a nap after a run!

Eli love's grabbing his toes! I just thought this pictures was cute!

This is Eli's first experience with sweet potatoes! He made a cute mess! He is starting to like food, but he usually still spits out more that he eats!

My friend Daisy from high school got married August 10 last month and had a beautiful outdoor wedding! It was so extravagent! I got his wonderful picture after the wedding under the arch where Daisy and Erik were married!

There was a fountain outside where they got married! Eli had a great time playing with Daddy in the water!

My mom and dad got to come to Daisy's wedding too! They love getting to see Eli!

A fun family picture!

Here's tbe bride and groom! She looked soo beautiful!
Best friends from high school finally getting to reunite :)Here's us with our men!

The next day my mom and I got the throw my brother's fiance Lisa a bridal shower! We had so much fun! These are the tuxedo strawberries that I made for the day!

Soon to be family :)

Don't they look happy!?!

The Conard family

The next weekend Eli got to watch his first Packer game! Go Pack Go! They didn't win.. but he was cheering hard! :)

I just really liked this picture and had to add it! I got this outfit for Eli when my mom and I went shopping at Babies R Us!

Lastly, I have pictures from our up North excursion! We went up August 15-August 23rd! The first night we were there, Grandma Niki, Grandpa Dowe and Uncle Kevin got to listen to Eli tell lots of stories! It was so great to see them! Then they left the next day and that marked the beginning of our first family vacation with Eli!

The first day was all relaxation, but the second day we decided to take Eli fishing for the first time :) I love this picture of Jeff with Elijah! And don't worry....we had a lifevest for Eli.

We took this when we go back! He was just so happy up North!

We also got to go the beach! Isn't he stylish?

Why do we even buy toys? Eli had fun playing with the strings on his swim trunks :)

Eli had fun with Daddy at the beach too!

Mommy and Eli enjoyed the woods up North.

Daddy and Eli had fun on the ATV!

Eli sat like a King in Grandpa's chair!

Eli also had fun sitting at the campfire! I couldn't help but take this picture! I gave him a little piece of grahm cracker and he seemed to enjoy it! He was fascinated by the campfire!

Eli and Mommy enjoyed sitting by the campfire together!

We were glad we brought the playgym along! He had fun playing outside and Mommy was able to get a little sun!

He always enjoys his swimming pool!

Doesn't he look like a little model?

He had fun flying on Daddy's legs!

"Fishing is fun!"

We bought him a life vest for when we were going to go boating on the bigger lake, but unfortunately the weather didn't allow it! So we thought we would at least get a cute picture!

We were up North on Eli's 6 month birthday! We took him to the bowling alley in Eagle River! He was so fascinated by the bowling balls!

We also went mini-golfing! 6 for 6 months old :)

Then the next day we took Eli golfing :) He was such a good boy!

Then on the way home we stopped in Mosinee! Jeff's Mom (Niki) just loves playing with Elijah!

One last family picture before we went home!

Eli enjoyed vacation but was very happy to be home too!

On Labor Day we were able to visit Jeff's Dad's (the Tillema's) side of the family in Randolph! It was the first time they got to meet Elijah! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures! It was so great getting to see everyone again! Eli was happy to meet all of you!

It's August!!!

2008-08-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

Life is never boring for our family! There are always new adventures to be had and milestones to be reached by Eli! With that being said, Eli got his first tooth last Wednesday!!! He's been quite a drooler lately and when I checked Wednesday night I saw his first tooth (bottom middle right tooth)!!! Also, he is starting to get better and better at sitting up on his own! He now can sit and play for 5-10 minutes without falling over (when he's not ready for a nap of course).

Besides Eli milestones, this Tillema family has been busy! Last weekend was our only weekend free until the last week of August! To enjoy last weekend, we were able to hang out with the Zastrow's Saturday evening! Claire bought a new fun water splash pool and invited Eli to come play with Bella in it! They had a blast! Eli is really starting to like the water! Then, last Sunday we decided to go mini-golfing for the first time with Elijah! He was very good and he really enjoyed watching the go-carts!

Thursday I got to go with Eli to Rochester to hang out with five amazing friends! Eli had his first night away from Daddy. He was very well behaved for me though and I was very proud! It was so fun for us girls to get to hang out with each other again and then hang out by the pool Friday afternoon!

Also on Friday, Jeff's younger brother came to stay with us! It's always fun to see Kevin! Eli was happy to see him as well! He was all smiles!

Saturday was filled with fun activities as well! While I was at a bridal shower in Madison, Jeff and Kevin were able to hit the mini-golf course! It was the longest amount of time I was away from Eli ever! Then in the evening we were joined by Aaron, Gerri and Joy at the La Crosse Logger's baseball game! It was great getting to hang out together!

It's been a busy summer and it is going by way to fast! We are booked every weekend until the last weekend in August! Although we are busy, I will keep you updated with pictures of all of our fun-filled activities!

Ok, well, enough stories and time for the pictures!!

Here they are!!!

Here's Jeff letting Eli check out the Zastrow's cool splash pool

Eli loved the water, and Bella loved Eli! Every time Bella sees Eli she lights up and lavishes him with hugs!

Now Eli is ready to see what Bella is playing with! He's sitting by himself (with Jeff right behind him to prevent him from falling)!

After swimming, Eli decided to get messy! I had to show you the Packer bib!

Father and son at the mini golf course! Eli wanted to hold Daddy's club! However, he is also busy looking at the race track in this picture!

Jeff did a great job mini-golfing with Eli in the Baby Bjorne!

Monday, I got to watch Joy when Gerri had a dentist appointment! Joy and Eli are starting to be able to play along side each other!

Then they decided to share.. Or maybe Joy just saw the yellow top since Eli had the bottom! I'd like to think the were sharing though!

Eli has been chewing on everything! I just thought this was a great picture to demonstrate that! Little did I know his new tooth would be coming two days later!

The next day I decided it was time to finally blow up Eli's new pool! After I took Eli for a run in my new jogging stroller, he was ready to play in the water! He had so much fun!

The I got another cute picture of him once we came inside! He's getting better at sitting up!

This picture was taken Friday morning in Rochester! Eli and Bella seemed quite happy to see each other!

This picture demonstrates what Bella likes to do when she sees Eli! Eli isn't quite sure about her hugs yet! She has a tendency to pin him down!! :) It's so cute though! We were all laughing!

On our way to the Zerbe pool, the babies decided they should rest up for their fun day in the sun!

Unfortunately we weren't able to get a picture of all of us girls together! The babies stole the spotlight!

He's one cool dude!

Here is a picture from my cousin John's fiance Kim's bridal shower! This was the first day I was away from Elijah for an extended period of time (besides when I waitress Friday nights) . We had a lot of fun! We got a great picture of our family with everyone smiling and their eyes open! Next time.. Kelly should not be in the back!!! :)

I accidentally took my camera out of my purse before we went to the Logger's game, but Auntie Gerri brought hers and was so nice to share her pictures with us! It's Eli's and Joy's first baseball game!!!

Happy 6 month birthday Joy! She sure is a cutie! The Tillema clan hung out Sunday afternoon and played frisbee golf! Joy was such a smiley girl!

Eli gave quite a smile himself! It looks like he enjoyed frisbee golf himself! He rode along in our new jogging stroller!

I took this picture myself!

Eli had so much fun with the guys! Uncle Aaron got him to giggle!

So did Jeff!And so did Uncle Kevin!

We thought we should take a picture of the brothers when they were all together! Aren't they a good looking bunch!

Then we had to let Eli in there too because he is a Tillema boy himself!

Look what you can find at Aeropostale in size small!

One more picture of Eli showing off his ability to sit up on his own! He is growing so fast!

More summer fun!

2008-07-22T20:18:00.001-07:00

After our wonderful 3 day weekend in Milwaukee, I figured it was time to make another post!

Over the past few weeks, Eli has had many new firsts! Two weeks ago he finally started to jump in his jumperoo! He has soo much fun! He jumps and jumps and jumps!

Also, we have started to give him rice cereal! It's exciting! He is very good at making a mess! It's cute! We have to be ready to give him a bath afterward because he is soo messy!

Last weekend when we were in Milwaukee, Eli finally got to meet my (Michelle's) brother Brian and his fiance Lisa. He was so good! It's a little over a 3 hour car ride and we didn't have to stop at all (either way)! We were so impressed! Eli was such a good boy. While we were in Milwaukee, we got to go to my cousin Jen's wedding! It was beautiful! Eli got to finally meet almost all of the rest of my Mom's side of the family. He really had fun dancing. He was laughing and laughing! Unfortunately I left my camera in the car, but I got a few pictures from my dad and my cousin John so you can see some pictures from the night!

Then, Monday before we left, my parents came over to my brother's place and we all got to celebrate my birthday together! That was the first time in a long time that I got to see my whole family on my birthday! It was wonderful! Also, that afternoon, Eli was really starting to do a great job sitting up! He's getting stronger and stronger! Then, when we got home from Milwaukee, some of my friend's had a little birthday party for me too! I was pretty spoiled! I got to see my friends and family! Thanks to all! Well, I think that is all I have to share, so it is time for pictures :) Hope you enjoy!

I actually got a video of Eli jumping in his jumperoo on the second day! He jumps more and more each day! Before he used to just stand in it and play with the toys! It's neat to watch him grow and learn each day! Watch his little feet move!

Here are a few pictures of Eli from Day 1 and Day 2 of eating rice cereal! He got quite messy!

He decided to steel two spoons away from me! Can you believe we needed 3 spoons to feed him! I fed him with one and he took it! I fed him with spoon # 2 and he took it! Then I figured he doesn't have 3 hands so I only would need to take out one more! He was fascinated by those spoons!

This is the next day! I thought this picture was classic!

We had to give him bath right away!

Here's just another cute picture of Eli in his sunglasses!

Some pretty flowers Jeffrey got me for my birthday before we left for the weekend :)

Now we move on to the pictures from our trip to Milwaukee! My Dad was so wonderful to send me all of these pictures online so that I could get them on here right away! I forgot to bring my camera to the wedding so it's a good thing my dad is such a photographer :) Thanks Dad!

Here is a picture of Eli just checking out my Dad and his camera right after the wedding ceremony :)

Shortly after that, Eli decided it was time to take a nap! He's inside the sling that I'm wearing! My cousin John actually took this picture on his phone and then sent it to us!
Then once we got back upstairs to where the reception was, we had to take advantage of the beautiful view and get some pictures! Eli still doesn't always know to look at the camera.
Grandma Sue, Me and Eli enjoying the beautiful scenery
Then after dinner I had fun getting Eli to giggle!
Here's the bride and groom: Jen and Ben Steele! Jen looked stunning all day! They are such a cute couple!
This is the first Conard family picture since Eli is born! Three more months until Lisa is officially in the family :)
Then before we left, Eli had a great time dancing with Mom :) ! We even gave him the microphone (it wasn't on)! All eyes were on him and he was just loving it! The next day when my Mom and Dad came over to Brian's place. We got me a yummy Dairy Queen cookie dough ice cream cake to celebrate my birthday!

Eli was quite happy on my birthday! He had a lot of fun with Grandma Sue!
He always wants to be doing something! We thought we could get a picture of him with his grandparents.. but he was just a wiggle worm!

But we got a nice one of Eli with my brother and soon to be sister-in-law! He was so happy to meet them (as you can see)! He kept smiling at Brian and Lisa all weekend!

I thought this picture was great! Brian found another fun way to get Eli to laugh!

It was so great to see family again! I cannot wait until the next family wedding! Two more to go on my(Michelle's) side and one more to go on Jeff's side! See you then!

Summer Time Fun

2008-07-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

The summer is flying by so fast! I cannot believe July is almost half way over! We've sure been busy! The last week of June Eli came with me to Jeff's cousin's fiance's bridal shower. After the shower we got to go swimming! We had a blast! Three babies in the pool!

Then last weekend we got to go up north to Jeff's parent's "cabin" (large retirement home) for the fourth of July! It was Eli's 1st time up north and he really liked it! We got to go golfing, swimming, and boating. We got to sit by the camp fire as well! We all had a great time hanging out with Jeff's family!

Since we've been home Eli has been doing a lot better sleeping in his crib. Not the whole night yet.. but he's getting better. A few nights he's slept 5 hours without waking up (which was AMAZING for mom!!!) Also, we've been able to go on a few walks and simply enjoy being home again! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Here are a few pictures after the bridal shower :)
Eli and Joy both liked the water! Don't they look cool in their shades!

Three babies in the pool! Joy, Darren and Eli :) Darren is Jeff's cousin Danny and Darcy's little babe. He's just about 5 months older!

One happy family! We thought we should capture the moment!

When we got home Daddy had fun playing with Eli! He was laughing away! Jeff is really good at getting Eli to giggle!

He's just showing off how cute he is here!

This is Eli's first day up North at the cabin!

He decided he wanted to help Mommy play cribbage!

Later that day he came golfing with Mommy, Daddy and Grandpa Dowe! It was his first time on the golf course!

Here's Daddy driving the golf cart holding Eli! Eli really like riding along with us! We all took turns holding him when we hit and brought a bottle along! He was actually pretty good!

The next day the three ladies went to the beach with the babies when the men went golfing! I got a couple cute pictures of Eli before Grandma Niki and Gerri got there!

Then Grandma got to hold both babies!!! She just loves her grand-babies!!!!

Eli had fun with Grandma!

Gerri and I took a turn holding each others baby! :)

Then we got someone to take a picture of all of us!

That night we had a camp fire! It was Eli's first campfire! Of course we needed to take a picture!

The next day we went to Jeff's uncle's cabin and went swimming, laid out and we even went boating! When we were there, Jeff's cousin Bree had fun pushing Eli around in his little floatie!

Eli had fun!

Grandpa and Uncle Aaron did a great job taking care of the little ones when Gerri, Jeff, Uncle Kevin and I went boating! We got this picture when we got back! Eli and Joy like reaching for each other!

One last picture of Mom and Eli on the beach before we had to leave!!

We had such a great weekend! Hopefully you all are enjoying your summer as much as we are!

Happy Summer :)

2008-06-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

He's four months old and he is so much fun! He is able to officially roll over both ways! Woo hoo! He's napping well in his crib too! Mom is sooo excited! We've had a fun summer so far and I have a few cute pictures to share with you. We've had a lot of fun this summer and hopefully you all are getting to enjoy the summer as well! I know Eli is enjoying the nice weather! He loves it outside :) I just wish summers didn't include bugs!

This picture I took of Eli after a diaper change! He peed all over the changing table so I had to lay him on the carpet to keep him dry! :) He seemed to think it was funny!

I got a couple cute pictures of Joy and Eli when I was hanging out with Gerri one afternoon!

However... After a few pictures the babies had enough... Here's another family picture we took after our friend's Luke and Ashley's wedding! Eli didn't get the memo to smile :)

We got a couple cute ones after the family photo though! Thanks Erica and Dave for the cute Pooh outfit!

Then we thought we should take a picture of the two of us! We don't take many of those anymore.

Just yesterday, we went to the park with our small group! Eli fell asleep in the car on the way and slept for quite a while when we were there!

But he woke up in time to take some cute pictures with his cousin Joy before we left!

We got a cute smile out of Eli!

Isn't Joy a Cutie? Babies make the cutest faces :)

Eli went swimming!

2008-06-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my (Michelle's) parents came to visit! He's growing so fast they had to come and see him again! We had so much fun! Eli had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa! Eli even got to go swimming for the first time! He was soo good! He seemed to really enjoy it! We can't wait to see Grandma and Grandma again! When they were here they took a lot of great pictures! Here are a few of them!

Mom and Dad love smooching Eli!

At night we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa at the hotel. Grandma had so much fun getting to hold Eli! Check out his shirt! It says,"If mom says no, ask Grandma!"

Eli was having fun smiling at Grandma and Mommy!One happy familyThis is Eli's first swimming suit! The swim diapers were a little big on him so the shorts covered them up! He's stylish and 3 1/2 months!We bought a a floaty raft for Eli! This is his first time swimmimg (except the bathtub)! He had fun, but I think we enjoyed it more than he did! It was just so cute! We had to put towels in front of him and behind him to help him sit up! Mommy and Daddy with Eli :) We had fun pushing him all throughout the pool!

He even got smiley!

The next day Grandma and Grandpa came over for lunch! Eli smiled a lot at Grandma!

Grandpa got some cute close ups!

Eli's getting better at playing with the toys in his play gym :)How cute!Eli had fun with Grandpa too!

After Grandma and Grandpa left, Eli had played in his jumperoo! He's liking it more and more! Our friends came over later that night and Bella crawled up me trying to get my camera! She loves playing with big people toys!Here's a cute onesie Eli got! He truly is a keeper!

He rolled over!!!

2008-06-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

I realized today that it has been quite a while since I made my last post! There is so much to tell you! Eli is changing so much and is becoming so much stronger and independent! Last week Friday, Elijah rolled over for the first time from his tummy to his back! I had him propped in front of his little mirror and he was as happy as a lark. I went to get the clothes out of the dryer and before you know it I hear a little whimper in the living room. I walked in to see what happened and Eli was lying on his back! He looked quite startled and had no idea what happened! I was such a proud Mom! After a minute of shock, I put him back on his tummy and he started smiling at himself in the mirror again.

Besides rolling over, Eli is also starting to get a lot better at: making eye contact, laying on the floor and being content either playing with a toy or chewing on his hands, pushing up with his arms and holding up his head when you lay him on his stomach and he is starting to giggle a lot more too! Also, today he took his first true nap in the crib! He slept for 2 hours!!!

One other piece of exciting news is that we finally got Eli a Jumperoo! His feet don't quite touch the ground, but so far he has enjoyed every moment!

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks! There probably will be more than usual because it's been a while :)

Jeff got out the camera after giving Eli a bath! He was having fun chilling in his towel!

This is one of my favorite outfits that Eli has! He looks like a little golfer! He was standing up leaning on the couch and then he got a little tired! :)

Claire and Z came over a few weeks ago and she had fun taking pictures!!! Here, Eli was having fun laughing with Mommy and Daddy!

Bella just loves reaching for Eli! It's funny to see how often she reaches for his head!
Look at Eli's head control :)
Bella and Eli are both eying each other up!

We got a picture of them reaching for each other :) They are soul mates!
This is the first time Eli fell a sleep with a nook in his mouth!
This is a few days later! We watched Bella for the Zastrow's and she had fun playing with ALL of Eli's toys! :)

Memorial Days weekend we hung out with Jeff's brother and sister-in-law at Myrick Park with the babies! They were so good! We even got the play doubles in Bean Bag toss! Here, Aaron was watching Eli for us when Jeff and I were playing against each other! Eli loves standing!

He was so happy to be playing with Uncle Aaron!

He's thinking " I love it out here!"
Look at Eli's plumber's crack :) Mom didn't make his diaper tight enough... Good thing he didn't go # 2!!!
This past weekend we went to our first wedding of the year! It was a beautiful wedding and Elijah was wonderful! Travis and Melissa had their reception Maple Grove which is where we had ours! So we decided to take a family picture where we had some of our wedding pictures taken! Eli was taking a little snooze!
Eli and the ladies
This is one of our first family pictures with Eli wide awake!
Yesterday we finally got Eli his Rainforest Jumperoo! He loves standing so I think this will be a toy he loves! His feet don't quite touch the ground yet so I put a Monopoly box under his feet to help him jump! When I put him in it right away he decided to start eating the chair! He puts just about everything in his mouth! :)
Then he starting reaching at the lizard in front of him!
Then he started to giggle! He really liked it!After that I put him on his tummy! He rolled over 4 times today! I even got one on video! He's getting so strong! He is able to hold up his head so well!

New Adventures

2008-05-16T20:36:00.000-07:00

Eli has had a lot of new adventures! Last weekend Elijah took his first long road trip to Green Bay to meet Mommy's extended family! The trip went pretty well! He slept almost the whole way there. He had such a fun time meeting all of my extended family. He was all smiles until it was time to go back to La Crosse! He was great for the first hour and then he was ready to be home... I think the weekend was a lot for him. So Monday Mom and Eli laid low!

Also this week, Eli has begun to take a liking for his stroller! During the day we've gone for walks everyday! He likes wearing his new sunglasses on our little outdoor adventures!

Wednesday, Eli had a fun time playing with his cousin Joy! They were reaching at each other, talking and even holding each others hands!

Here are a few pictures from his new adventures!

Eli's looking at Grandpa holding the camera saying aren't I a cutie-pie?

Eli is so comfy hanging out with Grandma on the deck!

Eli smiled a lot with Grandma over the weekend!
Grandpa was a comfy place for Eli to take a nap!
The next morning Eli was all smiles!
Here's a picture of all the people in my family that Elijah got to meet! He got so many hugs! He was a happy boy! I was surprised how good he was meeting so many new people at once!
GREAT-Grandma Boyden loved holding Eli!
After we got home Mom decided it was time to get Elijah some sunglasses! Here is the first time he tried them on! Doesn't he look like a cool dude? He didn't mind them a bit! Daddy with his little dude!

Here's Eli after his first stroller ride! He has little bugs that are attached to the stroller that he just loves looking at and talking to!
This week Eli started having fun in his Rainforest play gym! He's now able to reach up and play with the toys by himself! He's growing up so fast!
Eli loves hanging out with his cousin Joy! He even put his arm around her:)
Auntie Gerri allowed the cousins to get a good look at each other! They both started reaching at each other right away:)
Then we laid them next to each other and they held hands! They will have so much fun growing up and playing together!
Here Eli's having fun standing on a pizza box looking at Daddy!
This is our entire small group that we meet with Wednesday nights! There are now three babies that get to join in the fun!!!

Eli's 11 weeks old

2008-05-08T22:06:00.001-07:00

Here are some new fun pictures of Elijah! These are some of my favorite pictures so far! I did a couple fun photo shoots!

Eli's happy after a bath!

Mommy thought Eli looked cute today! He's smiling all the time now!
He's sleeping like a babe in his sling nestled against Mommy!
This is Eli's first non-milk food experience!
The sugar did a number on him! :)
"Aren't I cute?"
"Hey! Look at me!"

He's cuter everyday!

2008-05-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Jeff's Mom, Dad and brother Kevin came to visit! Here are a few pictures of when they visited and some more fun pictures! He's able to do more and more everyday!

Look how happy grandma is!

Eli's got a firm grip on grandpa's hand!
Grandma's got both grand babies!
The cousins had their first conversation on Saturday! Eli's a great talker and Joy's a great listener!
Elijah's getting great neck conrtol as he looks at himself in the mirror! He's getting strong!
His jacket says let it snow! He wore it on the day it snowed. I cannot believe it snowed in late April!!!
On Tuesday, Elijah spit up on Dad when he came home on his lunch break! Jeff had to take a full shower and change before he went back to work!
Look at him checking himself out in the mirror! Tummy time after a bath! He's thinking, "Man I am one cute kid" When he looks at himself in the mirror he talks to himself!
This picture says it all!
Put em' up!
Wednesday, Claire and I went walking together! This is Bella's reaction when she say Elijah!
Elijah looked at her intently!
Bella then decided to play with Eli's carseat and feet! Then she grabbed at his hand too :)
This is a picture of Elijah today on his 10 week birthday! It's crazy. I feel like he's going through another growth spurt. He basically eats, and sleeps (and goes #2 ) .

He just keeps growing :)

2008-04-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

I just took some new pictures this week that I thought were super cute and I wanted to share them with all of you! He's 9 weeks old! Hope you enjoy!

We set him in his bouncer and he stayed sleeping!

I found this cute little outfit at Target! He definitely is happy with Mommy! :)

Look at his grin!

I'm not sure if he's stretching of flexing...
He looks a little sleepy because he just woke up from a little nap!
Taking a little snooze today on his Boppy! When he's not napping on Mommy or Daddy, that snooze usually only lasts about 15 minutes..
Looking all around as Daddy let's him sit on his lap.

He's 2 months old!

2008-04-20T17:26:00.001-07:00

Wow! How time flies! Our son is already two months old! On Friday we took Elijah to his 2 month check up and he has already gained 5 lbs. from birth! He now weighs 11 lbs 12 oz. I just can't believe how fast he's growing! Here are some fun pictures from the past few weeks! I hope you enjoy!

Yay! Eli took his first nap in his crib! This does not happen much! He likes it better when he's with Mommy and Daddy.

Here's Elijah having fun in his bouncer chair after a bath! Look at my pudgy belly!

Here's Daddy holding our son after he came home from work! My two favorite guys! Eli looks like such a little man!
Here's Eli in the bouncer again! He just loves it! I just thought this picture captured how cool his eyes are! They are always wide and looking around at everything."Look at me Mom and Dad!" Look how little he is in our rocking chair! We let him rock himself to sleep before bed now since he's getting so big! Just kidding!

Eli's playing with his older cousin Joy on April 15th when Mommy and Daddy got to celebrate the end of tax season! Uncle Aaron ad Auntie Gerri watched Eli for us! They caught a picture of them looking at each other! :)
Auntie Gerri told me Joy was holding her cousins hand! Joy seemed to like her cousin! Eli is wide eyed as usual checking out what's going on around him!
"Happy birthday Dad!" Elijah sure loves his Daddy!
His shirt says it best. "Daddy's best Buddy"
This is Eli Friday after his 2 month shots! We felt so bad for him!
But later that day he got to play with his friend Isabella! She is our best friend's, Adam and Claire Zastrow's, daughter! Then he cheered up again! We caught a picture of them checking each other out!
Bella kept reaching for him! Claire said Bella really likes other babies!
They're good friends already! Aren't they cute together :)

A few firsts

2008-04-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

In the past few days Elijah has had a couple firsts!

1.) He held on to his first toy. He loves his froggy! He has even started smiling at it during the day when Mommy is playing with him!!!

2.) He was a happy camper throughout an entire bath time! He was happy going into the tub, happy during bath time, and happy when mommy took him out to dry him off! That was a great accomplishment that made Mommy very happy! I got this cute picture after he was all clean!

3.) In the past few days he also started looking at the objects on his bouncer! He usually would turn his head away from all of the lights and look at the wall! Jeff and I would laugh because he would look at a boring white wall instead of fun and interesting lights and animals! Now he's finally starting to look at all of the fun stuff on it! He even is starting to smile at it!

4.) Today he wore his first Packer outfit! And boy was he happy! I can tell he will bleed green and gold already! It's just sad that he'll never get to see Brett Favre play... We will just have to tell him all about him!