Oh Eli-Boo, Oh Eli-Boo, How Lovely Are Your Blabings

Happy 2010 everyone! 2009 ended pretty well and we are doing wonderfully.

I finished my second to last semester for my Bachelor's. It was a hard, difficult, frustrating semester but everything ended up okay. This Winter is my last undergraduate semester and is looking pretty easy. I took the GRE, and as a part of one of my classes became a ASQ Certified Quality Process Analyst. Applications for graduate schools are almost done for my top four schools from around the country. Hopefully we'll know in the next few months (we'd better!).

Megan has been busy with all of her projects. She knit four scarves for Christmas and did an excellent job on each of them. She also wowed us with her culinary skills by making so many goodies everyone got fat and we couldn't finish them all (bon bons, fudge, caramels, peppermint bark, chocolate souffle, homemade white hot chocolate, etc etc).

Eliana celebrated her first birthday and got three cakes out of the deal. Refused to get messy in any of them. (She's so prim and proper... hehe.) Eliana is learning more about her vocal cords. She is clearly saying, "Mama" "Dada" "Dog" "Car" "Go" and "No". She is an avid reader (just like mommy) and will sit and read 10 books in a row with mommy or daddy (though daddy doesn't always tell the stories how they are written).

We spent both Thanksgiving and Christmas with the families in Boise. It was relaxing. Plenty of presents were got and given. Eliana loves playing with her aunt Amber almost as much as daddy. (Gasp!) Note from Megan: She likes Aunt Amber more than she likes Mommy sometimes, which is pretty much amazing.

I have a new photo album on Facebook of our most recent adventures for your viewing pleasure.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137139&id=505458532&l=de6be89a31

Hope everyone is well. Have a wonderful start to 2010.

Eliana FloorWalker

It's official. Eliana is walking! After months of assisted walking through the house and everywhere, she is finally doing it on her own. Enjoy!



"Impressive. Most impressive." -Darth Vader-

A Masterpiece: Carrots and Peas on Highchair

Howdy friends and family. Our camera decided to divulge all of its photos today and we thought you might like to see some of Eliana and the family. An album has already been set up on Facebook which you can access here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=115291&id=505458532&l=d8b543a684

Some I didn't seem to include were our recent family photos (one of which is displayed in our living room) so here's a treat for you.


We continue keeping busy. I am busy with lots of homework, research projects, consulting, and playing tour guide to Eliana as she walks around the house. It is amazing how much she has learned and grown over the last 10 and a half months. Megan is busy playing Mommy, making curtains for Eliana's room, and dealing with the baby who loves walking everywhere Mommy will let her. Eliana is growing like a weed with six teeth, hair that can actually support a bow (though Eliana doesn't support the bow), and a love for adventure and excitement (at least as much as we let her get into).

Love you all and God bless.

It's cool! It's hip! Isn't it?

Cool Occurrence One:
Eliana started to walk this week. Unassistedly, that is. Her highest number in a row is something like nine. Now, these steps were not towards her mother, mind you. They were walking to her Aunt Amber, who is much cooler. The in-laws (whom I adore, incidentally), came down for conference this past weekend. Which was awesome, by the way. Eli loved playing with her Aunt Amber, enjoyed Grandpa, who looks a lot like her Daddy and Unc Jason, and liked Grandma until she scared her with noseblowing. Grandma thought Eliana didn't like her very much, but I think that Eli was just being herself. When someone really really want her to like them and play with them, she doesn't want anything to do with it. Take me, for example. If I am doing anything that distracts from Eli, she comes and demands my attention. The only reason I am currently writing this is beause she is napping. Now, if you want Eli to come do something with you, she will run away quickly. Unless you have something that she wants. In Amber's case, I suspect it is beautiful red hair that she can...play with? Pull on? Something like that. She loves to play with mine while nursing before bed at night.

Numero Dos:
The toilet fairies fixed the toilet! Hooray!!! Since we moved in last May (approximately a year and a half ago), the toilet has had this little quirk where it runs constantly. While the girls all went shopping to find a homecoming dress for Amber, the boys fixed the toilet. I'm still not completely positive which all boys were in on it. I think just Dad, Brian and Jason. Anyway, they decided to let me figure out on my own that it had occurred. It was given away by the different flush handle. It wasn't until after it flushed that I realized that it wasn't running constantly anymore. I am super excited. Next up: Fixing the drippy sinks. Dunno when that will happen, but they need new washers. Badly.

Cool Occurrence Number Three. Literally.:
Our heater isn't working. Our landlord went down on friday (?) to make sure everything was in working order to start using our awesome old heater (which I really do love, it's quite wonderful), and it seems the pump is broken. Which means no heat or moisture from our beautiful steam radiators. Sad freaking weekend. It's been cold, and I am so so so so so so so sooooooo grateful that Mom and Dad Wells lent us a space heater last winter. And didn't ask for it back. We've been using it for Eliana's room, and using the oven to heat the rest of the house. Needless to say, our bedroom is the coldest room in the house. Luckily the temperature has not been so cold that we have had to move in with Eli, although that may happen in the near future if fixing the pump takes too long. So if you want to pray for our heater, we would be okay with that. Our neighbors probably wouldn't complain either.

I wanna play with the magic eraser....*sniffle*

I have decided that I should stop being a bum. This is going to be very difficult for me, but it is in fact what I am GOING to do. Now to just convince myself to give up fanfiction....

The last couple of days have been fairly uneventful, with the exception of being somewhat more happy/productive than normal. We had JordyLeeny over for dinner on Sunday (homemade beef stroganoff in the crockpot-AMAZING!), JordyLeeny and Sarah for FHE on Monday (I suppose last night), and I learned to play SCUM, which is kinda funny because I was given SCUM cards for my birthday three years ago and did not ever use them until last night. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it. Soy el-Vice Presidente! Also, we had amazing deliciousness of yummy used bookstore goodness happen to us last week. My friend Marie (who is completely amazing, even if she does live at monkey headquarters) decided to get rid of a large chunk of her manga. She didn't want to deal with trying to sell it, so she gave to me (happy SQUEEEEE!!). I kept about 3/4 of what she didn't want, and took Ranma (poor confused boy/girl/panda) down to the used bookshop, where I was given in-store credit for used books. This combined with the loveliness that is a remodeling sale, and Brian and I ended up with 16 scrumptious books out of the deal. That's right, you heard me. Megan on cloud freaking NINE! This in addition to the Bookstore sale that Brian let me buy four books at earlier last week. One of which is a lovely slowcooker cookbook of yummy delicious goodness. Give me an excuse to have great food that is not labor intensive and I will take it any day of the week. Speaking of slowcookers, I also found a blog that tells you how to make yogurt in one. See here: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html .

In other news, Eliana is a monster. Silly alien spawn, I love her, but she crazy. A week and some ago she fell and cut her gum open on the corner of our entertainment center, which scared the holy guacamole out of me - blood everywhere - and it has been steadily healing ever since. Well, I was looking at it to check progress yesterday, and lo and behold there is a little tooth creeping out of the slice. On the top. What happened to bottom teeth first? She also seems to think that boobs are for playing with. We are still breastfeeding at 8 months (only four more to go to reach our goal - woot!) and she delights in both trying to blow raspberries at her feedings or sucking in and pulling back to make a popping noise. NO BUENO!! Just because I feed you with them does not make them yours, little boo! She also seems to have decided that spoon feeding by mom or dad is not for her, no sirrah! Yesterday I tried to feed her lunch and she would have none of it, trying to steal the spoon from me at every opportunity, and trying to get the babyfood jar as well. She'd been fussy, alright, screaming angry, about us trying to feed her for the last few days. Apparently she has decided that she is an independent woman child and wants to feed herself. So for lunch today I gave her finger food and no problems whatsoever. Right after we stock up on baby food, no less. Gah, now what? I am considering letting her just have the bowl and spoon and see what happens, but I'm afraid. Very afraid. Brian, be warned, Eliana may be getting baths more often. Aren't you a lucky daddy?

Also, I broke the swiffer handle off today. It was very upsetting. Stupid trying to mop the kitchen floor. I just want a clean house! In happier housecleaning news, the generic magic erasers are wonderful too! I used one to take scuffs off of wall and floor recently, and things came right off. Happy sigh. And Brian even cleaned all the dishes last night for me. He really is a wonderful hubby. Don't think I could have done better. Now to just buckle down and clean the bathroom floor. And the tub. And the ceiling in the kitchen. Don't ask, I don't know how it got dirty. I suspect that it was always that way and I have just recently started to look up. The tub just needs a really good pumice-ing. I still haven't found a cleaner that will take off as much hard water build-up as this tub has. Please note, yet again, much of it was there before we moved in over a year ago - I cleaned the crap out of the stupid thing multiple times and gave up because of the whole pregnant and new baby thing. Now that Eli is dangerous and moving (crawling and getting into everything - hooray baby gates for their magical containment properties), I feel that I can finally start getting more done. She's not quite as attached at the hip to me as she used to be. Oh, and we finally got naps figured out, although by the time I write this, she'll probably change it up just to keep me on my toes.

Well, that's about all the random thoughts that I have right at the moment. I do hope you enjoyed this episode of the life of Megan.

Hawaii + Zebras + Crawling + Surveys + Office = Us?

Brian here. Thought I'd do my customary stop-in and send everyone love, pictures, videos, etc. We've been really busy over the last month. So...

Wells Family Hawaiian Adventure


Let me give the abridged version because there are a lot of details to why. So Megan's little sister Cherokee elected to move with their real mom in Hawaii, and Megan was asked to be a chaperon for the transition. Well, Megan wouldn't go without me, so... hence we had a beautiful week on Oahu.

We enjoyed all the sides of the island. We went snorkeling twice (and Megan LOVED it!), we saw the Laie Temple, enjoyed local shopping (where we saw my cousin Heidi and her husband Craig), and went to a fantastic luau at Paradise Cove (AMAZING!!!).

Eliana was mesmerozied by the hula dancers (and who wouldn't be)

Eli meeting her future husbands... I mean, the hula guys


Eli meeting a hula dancer

Great weather. Did wonders for our skin. Megan's step-dad made some awesome videos of parts of our journey, which I've linked for your enjoyment:

Seeing Oahu -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itHJtemXaYI&feature=channel
Paradise Luau -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDLPk5lD3pg&feature=channel
Fire Dancer from Paradise Cove -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZSlNFudJVQ&feature=channel
An Eliana montage -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0V66B0rx08&feature=channel_page
(or search oahusteve on youtube.com)

Independence Day starring a Zebra


Our 4th of July was great spending it with Jason and Megan (holla!), who are also moving down the end of the month (yippee!). We visited the Hogle Zoo the day before the 4th which Eliana loved... mainly speaking to the animals. (They did not respond for comment.) Fireworks were cool, and Eli just stared wide eyed.

Our Pride and Joy

Then there's Eliana. She turns 8 months this week. Her last doctor's appointment put her at 18 pounds and 27 inches (right where she should be along the 75th percentile). Eli loves all types of food, especially if its off our plates. She loves vegetables, fruit, Cheerios, whatever's for dinner. In the last month, she has started a full crawl with the moving arms and legs, not the hopping around stuff anymore. We've taken a few videos. The first is from last week of Eliana and her favorite "Right Round" toy.

The same day she got her crawl on, she started pulling herself up on furniture (as seen below).

Now she walks along the table, the couch, the TV stand, etc. Walking, I'm sure, is around he corner. Here's another one, showing off her amazing "Table Walking" ability.

Not a lot of hair or teeth yet. Words are not exactly words yet but the essence of "Mama" is there. But we're loving every minute seeing her grow. She's our little blessing. Happy as a clam.

If Mama Ain't Happy...


Megan is loving being a mommy and seeing all of Eliana's growth. She's been doing some online surveys to make a little extra money during Eli's naps. Her garden is flourishing with huge squash plants and huge tomato plants. None to eat yet but the babies are all over. Cooking new foods and eating healthy have been her recent goals. (I'm working on the liking a vegetarian meal, still. I'm just stubborn.) Of course, she makes wicked desserts (banana pudding, cheesecake, etc. drool. etc. drool.)

She's recently a Class A residential house finder (for Megan and Jason), a Class A wedding invitation designer (for Chris and Miriam's wedding, which were phenomenal), and a Class A "squee"-er (thanks to Erika, who stopped in from Michigan, much to Megan's enjoyment). She's been putting her major to use by getting to redecorate some of the house including a new love seat, new shelves, new lights, new curtains. She's really made it feel like our home.

And by the way, I'm still utterly, completely in love with her (2 year anniversary next month).

Brian, Resident Statistician


So, epic fail. When I wrote my title, I spelled "statistician" incorrectly. I'm totally going to succeed in this field. **droops head in stupidity**

Anyways, I'm just working full-time for FHSS Research Support doing statistics for the College. It's been slow, with the occasional grad student or professor, but I've been learning a lot. The big things going on with me is getting ready to decide if it's time for grad school or a "real" job. I'm taking the GRE and my last grad-prep classes this Fall, so we'll see if I'm graduate school material. Elsewise, I'm just enjoying being a handyman for the wife with all her projects and playing with my little girl.

Well, I think that's about it (give or take a 25 page dissertation). We want you all to know that our love is with you. We're loving our lives and invite any of you to stop by for a visit. Come see Eli. She would like it.

God bless y'all.

Eliana's Sign and Mommy's Cloth Diaper Love

The absolute coolest thing ever happened this morning! It completely makes up for the rough night that we had (Eli got up three times last night, one of them because it was too hot, and we haven't put the air conditioner in her bedroom window yet. We really need to get on that.). Anyway, so Brian got up this morning, changed her diaper as usual, played with her for a little bit, and brought her in and set her on the bed next to me so that he could start getting ready for work. I roll over, still slightly groggy, but happy to see her, and start saying good morning to my sweet baby girl. Well, all of a sudden she very deliberately makes the sign for milk. I was so excited! I've been using that sign when I ask her if she's hungry for a few months now, but wasn't really sure when she would start using it. There have been a few times that I thought that she might be trying, but it was not a definite sign asking for milk until today. So she made her first sign this morning, I grinned at her, and she grinned at me. Beautiful. It was cool, because Brian saw it too, and we were both amazed. And then I fed my baby milk.

Part 2: Cloth Diaper Love
I love love love cloth diapers!! We are mostly using the BumGenius All-in-One One-Size organic diaper, with a few prefolds thrown in when we run out. I love them! We've been doing cloth for three or four weeks now (I think), and they are awesome! Nothing at all like the cloth diapers that our moms used. No pins (which is wonderful), and they now make flushable liners so that when baby starts solids and you can't just throw the poopy diapers straight into the wash anymore you can put in a liner and the poop shakes right out with the liner. Love love love. Occaisionaly we do miss putting a liner in when she poops, but that's what yellow cleaning gloves are for, right? So that you can clean up messes that you'd rather not touch with your bare hands. I feel like with using cloth I'm actually getting something out of diapering her, instead of throwing away 40 to 50 dollars a month. Of course, it is a big up front investment, but in the long run it does end up being cheaper. Especially when you consider that cloth diapers usually last through more that one kid. Yes, I'm a hippie. And I love it.