This morning the boys and I began our Historic Montgomery Tour, which we are going to do this summer. Our first stop was the Rosa Parks Childrens' Museum in downtown Montgomery. As we entered the museum we climbed into a time machine that took us back to the late 1800s. As we traveled up to 1955, we learned about Jim Crow laws, Dred Scott, Harriet Tubman, and of course Rosa Parks. Eli enjoyed the lights and sounds of the robot-driven time machine.
After we left the museum we decided our tour could only handle one more short stop before Eli needed a nap, so we rode down Dexter Avenue to the Alabama state capitol and toured the grounds.
Our Historic Montgomery Tour will continue all summer and include The First White House of the Confederacy, Old Alabama Town, the Governor's Mansion, and the Planetarium. We'll share it all with you!

Lake Day

Jason and I took Eli and Josey to the lake this past weekend. It was Eli's first full day of swimming and boating at the lake and he loved it. Well, he wasn't too crazy about his bulky life jacket, but he loved being in the water.

Eli didn't like his life jacket, he couldn't move at all in it!
But he did like floating like this in the water.
His first ever boat ride.
Here's Eli waving goodbye to the lake house.
Get me outta this thing!


Playing with Josey in the water.Swimming with Daddy.

Big Boy

I just love this picture. Hugh & Grant were putting a puzzle together and Eli just jumped right in to help as if he's a big boy too. He adores his big brothers and wants to do everything they do. In turn, H&G are so great to Eli and enjoy doing things with him.

Doing Their Civic Duty

The Montgomery Advertiser snapped this picture of Darryl & Jesi yesterday while they were voting in the primary election at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

One Year Check Up

Eli had his one year doctor's visit this morning. I'm no germaphobe, but gosh I hate having him in that waiting room with all the sick kids! He weighed in at 20 pounds, which according to the highly scientific calculations puts him at about negative 20 on the Growth Chart. Whoever invented this stupid Growth Chart should be shot. Nothing during Eli's first year of life has brought me more unwarranted angst than that chart. According to the chart he is going to be a scrawny midget. He looks fine to me. I guess time will tell.
Don't mention this at Eli's 18th birthday party or anything, but he's had fluid on his left testicle for a few months now. The doctor feels confident it will go away on it's own, that is our hope because surgery would be the only fix. We'll keep watching and waiting.
He got 3 immunizations today. I've been conservative with his immunizations, I haven't gotten all of them, but we have gotten the majority of the recommended ones. He is not a fan of the shots (who would be). His face turns red, he holds his breath, and then screams when he is on the verge of passing our from shortness of breath. I'm glad it's over. He passed out in the car on the way home and is now sleeping comfortably in his crib.
So, now that Little E is a year old his diet will change radically -- gradually of course. The doc wants him off the bottle asap. I don't do pacifiers, so his bottle has become a sort of pacifier for him so it's going to be a tough wean. I've got some tricks to try. Also, I'm going to segue him onto whole milk and amp up his diet of table foods and try to get off the baby food altogether. Of course when I was driving home I wondered -- do you give them to whole milk cold? Or warm it up? So many questions, so many rules, so few brain cells left. I want to get him in a good routine before BGW arrives in September.
That's it for the doctor until his 15 month visit...in September. I told them the appointment had to be early September! I wonder if we'll be able to get a 2for1 on the copay if I take both kids to the doc at the same time. Hmmmmm.

A Dog's Life

Jason is off on a guy's golf weekend, so mother and I took Eli & Josey up to the lake for a couple of days. Being a retriever, Josey loves swimming and playing at the lake. Two summers ago when she first started going up to our lake place, she got to where she would jump off the pier into the water. Last year, when there was no water to jump into off the pier, she mostly just played in the dry lake bed. I guess she is out of practice jumping in now, cause today she was a little timid to do so. I'm sure it won't be long before she's back at it. Enjoy this photo story of her adventures with a tennis ball:
Josey playing with the ball

Josey running down the pier, ball in mouth
Uh oh, ball fell in water. Josey contemplates jumping in...
Then she contemplates taking the stairs into the drink...Finally she decides to take the easy route, going in via the beach...
And she got her ball back!
Back to playtime!

One Year Ago Today