Swimming and Some BAD Luck

So I have been meaning to get this video up for awhile but with all the traveling we have been doing I have been having a hard time finding a good internet connection.  I have not liked the quality of the videos I have uploaded to the blog so I loaded the video to YouTube.  So without any further delays...here you go!

 

Mark left to go back to Atlanta on Sunday.  The end of his vacation left little to be desired.  He woke up Saturday morning with an ear ache and constant head ache.  After a visit to the minute clinic a full blown ear infection was diagnosed.  He was able to start his medication before hopping on the plane the next day.  He arrived at home that evening to find Saydee (our cat) had accidentally been shut in the bedroom for 3 days and used the center of our bed as her litter box.  I don't know if you all are familiar with cat pee, but it is one of the most foul odors and one of the toughest to get out of anything!  She had peed through the comforter and sheets all the way down to the mattress.  I feverishly started looking up home remedies for Mark to try.  After pouring vinegar all of everything and using our wet vac he gave up for the night and crashed in the guest bedroom.  My sister came by the next day with a supposed powerful pet cleaner and went to work on the mattress and comforter.  We have to wait a couple of days for the solution to dry to see if we will be able to save the mattress.  We all have our fingers crossed!

And as if that wasn't enough, the grass must have grown a foot since Mark had left.  He got the lawn mower out and began trying to tame the forest in the back yard.  A few minutes into mowing and the lawn mower made a horrendous noise and out flew Toby's nyla bone.  Yep, the rock hard chew toy had jumped under the mower and bent the blade.  You can imagine the frustration that fumed from Mark.  I hate that his vacation ended on such a sour note, but a new blade has been bought and the grass has been mowed...just a day later than he wanted.  Now we are just playing the waiting game to see if we will be able to sleep in our bed anytime in the near future!

Now to end on a little happier note...here are a few other pictures of Eli's swim!

"I LOVE SWIMMING!!!!!"

"Whatcha Talkin Bout?"

Our Trip to the "Show Me" State

My brother, Chase, has been visiting my grandparents who live in Kansas City, MO since the beginning of July and my parents planned on taking a 2 week vacation themselves to pick him up at the end of July.  It has been a couple years since they have been able to make it down to visit family and friends (both my parents are from the Kansas City area).  Mark and I have not been able to get enough vacation to make a trip to Missouri in over 5 years so we took advantage of the fact I am out on maternity leave anyway and came to Missouri.  Since Mark only has 5 days of vacation he can burn right now he flew out to Missouri and will be flying back this Sunday.  Eli and I, on the other hand, are traveling with my parents and got the opportunity to ride the 12 hours in the mini van and ride the 12 hours back on July 30th.  The trip down actually was not as bad as I anticipated.  The trip with just Eli and myself up to Atlanta, on the other hand, left little to be desired.  I had to turn the volume as loud as it would go to drown out the screams behind me.  Luckily it was only a 2 hour drive!

We arrived in Missouri at 11:30pm central time on Friday and woke up Saturday to prepare for the meet and greet for my mom and Eli.  Over 60 people from the surrounding Kansas City area showed up to see my mom and Eli.  It was a wonderful turnout and we were so happy to get to see so many friends and family we have not been able to see in a long time.  Here are a few pictures from the event.

Since the meet and greet we have traveled down to my grandparents condo on Lake of the Ozarks.  Stay tuned...Eli's first swim pictures will be posted later!

Talking up the Town

For those of you who know Mark or I, you know what big talkers we are...especially Mark :-).  I can remember at an early age when talking on the phone to relatives they would have to ask to speak to someone else in the family because I would go on and on forever!  ha  I have also heard from Mark's aunt how he would ask question after question after question so she would limit him to a specific number of questions he was allowed to ask during one visit.  We have all been curious how Eli would be effected by our talkative nature.  I have no doubt he will have a lot to say...he has actually started talking to me in the past couple of days.  In fact, I was able to record our last little conversation.  Enjoy!

Just a warning, this video may not be as entertaining to you as it is me and the rest of the Eli's family! ha

The First Month

Sorry I have not updated the blog in over a week...this past week has been a week of firsts for the Harper clan. 

A lot has happened since the last blog.  My grandma and grandpa Condra (Eli's great grandparents) came down to Warner Robins, GA to pay a visit.  They stayed for a day and I enjoyed being able to make a trip to the grocery store without baby.  I kicked myself as soon as they left though because I failed to pick up my camera to snap a few pictures of the first meeting.  So we will just have to wait for the next visit...which may be very soon if everything works out.

We took our first road trip with baby and dog up to Suwanee, GA to visit the parentals for the 4th of July.  We had to rearrange our seating with the baby and Toby got shifted to the front seat of the truck.  He was very excited about this but still managed to give me puppy dog eyes as if saying he felt sorry for ME!  lol

 
 What is usually a 2 hour drive ended up over 3 hours with holiday traffic and a very unexpected rain storm.  When I say unexpected I mean the sky was blue and sunny when we left Warner Robins and all of our luggage and Eli's bassinet was in the back of the truck without any cover.  An hour later sitting in dead stopped traffic on I-75, the "unexpected" rainstorm proceeded to drench our luggage.  Oh...and did I mention that at the same time Eli woke up from his nap and decided that he had to eat and he wasn't going to have any patience??  So we had one small melt down...we survived though and our stuff eventually dried out.  

Mark's grandparents (Grandy and Pops) got to meet Eli for the first time as well as Eli's aunt Amanda!


Eli was shocked Pop's knew just how to hold him!  ha

 

Eli and his Great Grandy

Mark headed home a day early because he had to go back to work while Eli and I hung out in Suwanee and enjoyed time with my parents and family friends, the Towlers.  It was the first time Eli and I have spent the night away from daddy...we both missed his help at night.

While up in Suwanee we took a hike up to Amacolala falls and although Eli slept through it he got to go to his first waterfall.

Overall it was a great visit.  Lots of lounging and chatting and eating!

Lounging with Gpa!

Eli will lay outside for hours being perfectly content!

Toby found a new use for the Boppy pillow...

 Mom and me headed back to Warner Robins today and she will be staying with us for the rest of the week.  Chase (my brother) is in Missouri visiting grandparents so the house is pretty quiet.  Mom decided to hang out with us since our house is anything but quiet!  lol

Well that is everything in a nutshell...I will try my best to keep the blog updated a little more frequent.  Hope everyone else had a great 4th of July!