100th post of the year!!

First Time since beginning to blog have I hit 100 blogs in a single year. Soon I will also hit a record # 300 blogs for the sight!

Elijah's Birthday party

Things didn't start out the way it was all planned. BJ called me on Thursday and told me that he needed to work at some time this weekend. I went into major panic mode thinking that BJ wouldn't be able to go to Elijah's first birthday party. BJ worked things out to the best scenario possible. That being he would work his 8-4:30 shift on Friday, come home eat, sleep from 8-about 11 get ready to go back to work, work from 12-7 come, home, shower, sleep from 8:30-10, wake up, help me get ready for the party, have the party, sleep, go on with the day. Therefore, I was needing to get everything ready by myself. Thank goodness my co-worker from Rainbow came over to help Friday night. She wrapped all Elijah's gifts and cut up all the fruit for the party. We had all of our family here for the party and it was wonderful. Elijah started to get a bit done with it all after awhile, however, he wasn't feeling the best. He really wasn't about the cake, but that was the first time he really had that much sugar at one time.

It was a great day, maybe next year BJ won't be so sleepy.

Ah what a golden day

1. I know you are all on the edge of your seats to find out about Elijah's party. You have to wait until tomorrow.
2. It finally stopped raining and threatening the end of the world here in Chicago. It was beautiful today.
3. I traded in my SLP title today to relive my hay days as a registrar.
4. The kiddos I did treat today were fantastic and well behaved.
5. Except the child who kept reciting the advisories from the Disney shows he just saw (tease!)
6. Had Jimmy Johns for lunch.
7. Possibly ran a red light with a red light camera (wahoo! Birthday gift from the state)
8. Spent about 6 hours trying to complete one eval.
9. Spent 28 minutes writing a thank you note to a doctor.
10. Received 28 text messages from my hubby today!
11. Spent 28 minutes on Facebook getting all my birthday wishes
12. Read about 28 old blog posts
13. Decided for the second time in my life that I won't work on my birthday again.
14. Realized my plans for the weekend needed to be switched around by a day because I'm living a year in the future.
15. Took a 28 minute lunch outside today.
16. Did not fold the laundry.
17. Did not clean the mess up from Elijah getting into his nicely organized birthday gifts.
18. Did not clean out the garage for the car to sleep inside.
19. Took a stroll through the hood, all is quiet.
20. Got to pick the TV for the evening.
21. Ate Olive Garden for dinner.
22. Stepped in for the evening dance with the baby.
23. Was bit by the baby.
24. Baby laughed so hard when told "NO" that I couldn't hold my angry face and spent about 28 seconds laughing too.
25. Tried to change the diaper genie but almost died. So I stopped.
26. Made BJ change the diaper genie.
27. Had tiramsiu for dessert
28. Had a wonderful Golden 28th Birthday. Thank you to all for my day!

My Birthday at the zoo: By Elijah

I realized many things today. First of all, I have one of those sets of parents that are a bit crazy. Second of all animals are big. Let me tell you about it all.

My day started with Mommy and Daddy singing and dancing when they came to get me out of my crib. It was a bit cloudy outside but they didn't seem to care. Then we got dressed, in animal outfits, and headed downstairs for breakfast. That's when Mommy said that I wasn't going to school today. We were going to the zoo?? Daddy made eggs for breakfast, then we packed up the baby bag and out we went. It was rainy and wasn't looking like a good day to be outside ALL DAY LONG. Mommy kept saying that it would blow over and we would be fine.

We drove off to a big building to say HI to all of Daddy's old friends at his old work. Then I took a quick nap. When I woke up it was raining. We got of of the car, I got in my stroller and Mommy kept dripping me with the umbrella. We went around, went into a building, it was very empty, except for the animals like the bear thingy. We watched the otters play, swim, run and jump, we looked at snakes, cats, and bugs. (Mommy didn't look at the bugs.) Then back out in the rain. We walked down to see seals and they swam round, and round and kept coming to the window to say HI. Nobody was there but us. It was fun. Then we found a tiger, and a little bear. Saw the merkats, the naked moles and some fox looking things. Then it sort of stopped raining. Then we found the Giraffes. They were SOOOOO BIG! So much bigger than Rescues and my stuffed animal.

We had Lunch, then we went to find the bears. ROAR! Mommy was so funny. She loved the bears so much. She wanted to take them all home. Daddy said the polar bears wouldn't fit in the car. Mommy almost cried. I made a cute face and she was happy again. Then I took a nap, Mommy said I missed the Pack a something. Guess I will see them next year. Then we had ice cream, and saw the fishies and road a sea turtle, then off to the penguins. I liked the penguins they were funny and they almost walked right up to me. Then Daddy and I went through the swamp and we both got a bit scared. Daddy said it was going to be okay, but he was kinda scared himself. Then last but not least we saw the monkeys.
We got back in the car and I was asleep before we were out of the parking lot. I slept the whole way home. Mommy said we drove through 2 tornadoes, hail and some other crazy weather. When I woke up we were at Grandma and Grandpa Sarlina's house to have crazy fun time. Then home for bed.

It was a great birthday. I can't wait for the party but Mommy is stressed out. She doesn't think there will be many blogs until the party is done.

Happy Birthday Elijah

Elijah-

Wow it's already your first birthday. I cannot believe how fast these past 12 months have gone for us as a family. It was a year ago today that I woke up at 2:30 in the morning questioning if it was really the time to head to the hospital or if it was just my imagination. It is weird for me to think that a year ago I still didn't know if you were a boy or a girl. From the moment you were born, both your daddy and I agreed that you were were going to have all of your daddies good looks. We also quickly realized that you were a wonderful gift to us. It was difficult the first few nights with you home. It was different getting used to the fact that a full nights sleep might never happen again. It was also hard for me to get used to the fact that you were kind of boring. All you did was cry, poop, eat and sleep. Then you got a little older, you started showing me just how smart you really were and it amazes me how much you have accomplished in your short life.

Eventually you began sleeping through the night. You eventually began to explore the world, grow, and laugh. You were a wonderful infant. Every day you were alive I learned to love you more than the day before. Each day I found something new to love about you. Like the day you popped your first tooth. I never knew I could love a tooth so much in my life.

Here is a quick list of what you did in your first year of life:

You traveled to Tennessee to attend a wedding.

You met your Great-Grandma and Great Grandpa Berwyn.

You met your Great-Grandmother and Great-Grandfather Collins.

You had your first Chicago Cruise.

You met Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Chapman

You left a lasting impression on Daddy.

You went to a Bears Vs. Lions football game

You picked out your first pumpkin.

You went Trick-or-treating in Chicago.

You were baptized and Katie and Jon became your godparents

You traveled to Michigan

You had surgery to make your butt just perfect.

You picked out your future car at the auto show.

Learned to fly a kite.

You traveled to Minnesota

You met your extended Minnesota family

You went to Great-Grandpa's funeral

You were introduced to swimming.

You went to Michigan to watch Uncle Brett Graduate.

You went to Iowa to watch Uncle Tom Graduate.

You went to the zoo.

Elijah boy- You are loved very much! I can't wait to continue to spend more time with you and figure out who you will be when you get older.

Love, Mommy

Tomorrow is the Zoo

I would just post on it tomorrow but something even more exciting than the zoo is tomorrow. It is Elijah's First Birthday. (Wow, I have a lot that I need to get done tonight.)

But back to the Zoo thing.

I love the zoo. I really, really love the polar bears. I have two very large photos of the polar bears from the Brookfield zoo in my bathroom. I have the polar bears from the Detroit zoo on a blanket that I use year round. I have a polar bear from the build-a-bear zoo in my closet that I received when BJ and I got engaged. And now The Brookfield zoo has a new bear enclosure that I am thrilled to see. I also can't wait to show Elijah the size of a real live giraffe and an elephant. Oh I'm soo excited. I'm going to the ZOO and more important, Elijah will be one. And it wont be a day to worry or think about the work stuff right now. I hope this is something that we can do yearly on his birthday.

And as far as my list for birthday things goes...Brett's birthday gift is still not here, my mom's birthday gift arrived today, still haven't washed any of Elijah's gifts, made a small list of food for the party, still have not bought any of the food, and the house is semi clean. One thing I needed to add to the list. Pray like mad that the weather is nice this weekend. Because I really don't have enough room in my house for everyone to come in. If it rains we will all be packed in our garage, our neighbors garage and playing in the rain.

Well that sucked!

Today I resigning from my job. However, it didn't go over the way I had imagined it in my head. It created A LOT of stress in my, my boss, and even more my student. I kept trying to re-assure her that no matter what happened she will be able to complete her placement. I just hope I didn't scare her too much.



Oh Keri, you missed a lot today, but I am glad you were not there because I wouldn't want to stress you out this way. Instead I stress myself out thinking about you and Lindsey ALL DAY LONG.

Happy Fathers Day

I know that all of everything today has been about Fathers and how much we love them. Well this post is no different. I love my hubby and in the last 12 months he has really been a stand up daddy. He loves his little boy so very much, and I love him more and more every day. As we watch Elijah get older and more independent we keep talking about how much fun it will be when we get to do...

All in all, I love me hubby, I love Elijah's daddy and I love my dad too!

Happy Birthday Brett

Today, my lovely brother turned 22. if I was concerned at all about his ability to live through his first legal year of drinking, they are all gone now. Since today was major picture day here we took some extra pictures just for Brett, because we all know how much he loves Elmo, here is his current favorite nephew in his favorite cartoon character.

On another note. Another professional photographer disappointed me today. We had Elijah's professional pictures scheduled today and when we got there Elijah was a little sleepy but he is a great kid so I figured we had about 20-30 minutes of great pictures for the baby. We started out and did about 20 minutes of great pictures. Then another photographer came in and asked our photographer if her flash was on. Guess what! It wasn't! That's right the great pictures, just blackness. After about 3 more minutes Elijah was done with pictures and just wanted to be held. I was very annoyed. We got some really cute ones though and we spent a small fortune, but some of the ones that were taken before were better and that makes me sad. So once again, something important I paid extra money for to capture on film was not captured.