Interview at 2

We did a little interview with Eliana on her birthday and I finally got it compressed down so that I could upload it.  I love getting these little shots of her over time and know they will be special to look back on in the future.

Here you go family....

Interview Vimeo from Drew on Vimeo.

Making Decisions

Eliana wants to make her own decisions more and more these days which can be quite frustrating at times but also is quite fun and ends with interesting results.  Yesterday she insisted on wearing eight clips/bows in her hair and would have it no other way.  Not my first fashion choice, but hey, what can you do?  A girl has to find her own way, right?

Two Years

Well, we certainly have an active two-year-old on our hands!  Eliana is learning and executing so many new things these days.  It really blows my mind!  At times life with her is so hard and then other times it is equally awesome.  She is full of passion which means tantrums are hard and so is laughter.  She is active and moving all the time, with running increasing all the time.  She loves to work on her jumping, twirl and even practices standing on one leg every now and then.  Sometimes she is really brave and will climb things and even go down slides by herself and other times won't even go near them.  Eliana can walk up and down steps just fine but she pays so much attention to everything else that walking down is still a bit dicey so we keep a tight hold on her.

Eliana's babies are definitely her favorite toys right now- all kinds, shapes and sizes.  All of them are affectionately called "baby" unless they are a specific character like Pooh or Mickey.  She rocks them, pushes them in her strollers (yes, we have two!), puts them to bed, takes them to the bathroom, feeds them- whatever needs to be done.  She also never leaves the apartment without a baby and a bag, both which she regularly rotates.  She also enjoys her kitchen, her beauty set, cash register and reading books.  She's not into blocks or puzzles right now.  She'll put up with them but doesn't choose them on her own.  Curious George is definitely her favorite show (and really almost the only thing we let her watch) but she has watched "Finding Nemo" and Nemo is another favorite.  Oh and of course, Elmo.  What toddler doesn't love Sesame Street?

Eliana's personality is blossoming all the time.  She is such a fun kid!  She still loves people and loves to put on a show.  She does funny things and makes people laugh.  She likes to be scared and to pretend to scare us.  She also has a love for order and putting things away and often sees Drew's things laying around and quickly gets them and puts them away for him.  He just loves it!  Eliana is still extremely perceptive and aware of things around here.  I am amazed at how well she remembers places and events.  She now likes to retell events with some words and actions.  She really just notices everything.  It's crazy!  I guess she comes from a long line of noticers though (me, my dad, my granny) so I guess it's natural!

Eliana's favorite words right now are definitely "mine", "it's mine" and "Eliana."  Wow!  This gets tiring but I guess it is a part of life.  I try to reassure her that yes, certain things are hers and that isn't going to change but some things are in fact not hers and that is a little more difficult to handle.  She still has a tendency to scream and hit but we've worked on both of these a lot lately and she is doing much better.  It's still a little hard when we're out because people get in her face and she doesn't like it so hopefully she'll grow out of that soon.

Eliana is definitely still a mama's girl.  She almost always prefers me over daddy which is fun but also tiring at times.  We are together an awful lot though!  Potty training is going pretty well.  We're almost 100% with number one but are still a long way to go with number two.  Naps and nights still need work too.  We've come a long way!

Eliana does pretty well eating these days.  She still doesn't really enjoy meat but she does well with fruit and carbs.  Some days are good and others aren't.  Lately we've made some "fancy drinks" with our blender and she loves those.  She's started sitting on her knees and eating at the table with us.  She loves being a big girl!  She also does really well drinking out of regular cups.  I attribute all our cups of tea at friend's houses to that skill!  She loves helping me in the kitchen and we recently bought a stool to help with that.  She likes to scoop, pour, mix and especially play in the water.  As long as she doesn't drink it I'm okay with that!  Easy entertainment!

Eliana continues on her long and skinny path height and weight-wise.  We took her to the doctor before her birthday and she was right at 22 pounds (6%) and around 33.5 inches (60%).  The doctor said she was perfectly healthy though so that's all that matters.  And actually, because I have to carry her and walk so much I am thankful she is little!  She can wear her 2T/24 months bottoms but 18 months work fine too.

Three out of four of Eliana's incisor teeth are through the skin so when all four come in she'll have 16 teeth.  Slowly, slowly they are coming!  She likes brushing her teeth and now also likes to brush ours for us.  She is wanting to do more and more things on her own- dressing herself, washing her hair, carrying plates to the table- anything that seems doable she wants to do.  The other day she and I were out walking and she gave me her baby, asked for the keys, took her stroller and told me to stay and then told me bye-bye and walked off!  She kept looking back to make sure I wasn't moving and would say bye-bye again.  I couldn't believe it!  Already two and walking away from me?  I guess that's what we're raising her to do though, right?  Doesn't mean it's easy though!  I'm learning more and more what my parents felt.  My heart is going to need a lot of support!

Language-wise I think Eliana is doing great.  I think she's not as far as she would be if we were just living in the US but she does well both in English and Tajik and seems to be progressing fine.  It's fun seeing her learn to communicate more and realizing how much she can say and understand.  The fun is just beginning!



Eliana, you are such a sweet gift to us!  You truly are our little miracle!  The longer it takes for us to have another baby the more we realize that.  Each day with you is a gift and a blessing and our hearts are full.  You bring such laughter, fun and adventure to our lives.  It's crazy to think you've been in our lives for two years and to think how empty life would seem without you.  We love you more than you know and are eager to see you continue to grow and develop into the beautiful, young girl God has created you to be!

Looking Back

I know, Eliana turned two almost a month ago but I've been wanting to do a couple of posts related to that so here we go.  Better late than never!

A quick look of the puppy pics from year 2....

12 months

15 months


18 months


21 months


I am two!!!

Splish, Splash!

Livin' it up on our little balcony with our new little pool!  Looking forward to many hours of summer entertainment!

Just for Fun

Hanging out in the bed with Daddy...

Getting dressed (and undressed!) all by herself...


Pretty toenails with Mama for summer...

Hair Cut!

Well, I finally took the plunge and got Eliana's hair cut for the first time on Thursday.  It was quite an experience and I ended up not being able to get any pictures during the actual cut (she was sitting on my lap!) but we did it and it was successful.  I got my hair cut first and that gave her time to get over her fear and then when it was her turn I kept her calm and semi-focused by giving her fruit snacks (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!) and asking her to open her mouth and show me the snacks in the mirror.  Yeah, I know, not very lady-like but sometimes you just have to do what works.

Anyway, one more milestone in the books!  I'm thankful we don't need to do that very often!  She was not very cooperative AT ALL with before and after shots so this is the best I could do...

Before...

You can see by the look on my face how much work I went to for these "important" shots!



After...

Maybe she was still bitter for putting her through the hair cut!


Looking good!

The best "after" I could manage!

10 Years

On Friday Drew and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary!  It's crazy to think it's been 10 years since we got married.  So much has happened, good and bad, but the Lord has blessed us richly.  I certainly could not have imagined the life we've had but have grown to see God's goodness more and more as we move forward.  I thank Him for the experiences He's given us and trust that what He gives us in the next 10 years will also be the best for us.

I also am so thankful for Drew and the man he is to me.  He's seen every part of me over the past years and he still sticks around and still tells me he loves me and that I'm beautiful.  I don't understand why sometimes, but I am so thankful.  I am just so blessed.  Marriage isn't easy but it is an amazing picture of God's love for us and I hope to continue living it out for many years to come.

First of all, here is a little flashback to 2003...


Here we are at our honeymoon at the amazing Moon Palace in Cancun.  We look so young!  I guess we were though!

Now, we weren't able to do anything as luxurious for our 10th anniversary (there were grand plans for a return to the Moon Palace of course!) but we did have a really nice time celebrating here.  We got massages at the Hyatt, had a delicious dinner at a restaurant we'd never eaten at before, had a relaxing evening at home without Eliana (she stayed with friends) and another delicious meal for breakfast at the same restaurant from the night before.  Not fancy, but fun and relaxing and very enjoyable.

Here's to our next 10 years!

In front of the fountain at the restaurant- none of my other pictures really turned out well.  It was too dark!


10 years later...


Yummy coffee drinks


Nutella and banana crepes along with fried eggs with bacon...awesomeness!


Drew had crepes with a fruit topping...also delicious!

New Clothes

Eliana got lots of cute, new clothes for her birthday.  Our babysitter made her this cute korta so we just had to share.  Gotta' love animal prints!

Birthday Videos

Here are two more birthday videos- first of Eliana getting up on her birthday and opening her gift from us and then of us singing to her at her party.  Feel free to watch if you are interested!

Waking Up and Presents from Drew on Vimeo.


Party Singing from Drew on Vimeo.

Party Time!

We had Eliana's birthday party today and it was a hit!  We used a pavilion that is behind our apartment building (free!) and ordered pizza, had Velveeta Rotel dip with tortilla chips and veggies (want to see some Americans put down some food...throw this down at a party!) ice cream and a Curious George cake.  All our little friends (and a few big friends too) were there, Eliana got some fun gifts and we just hung out and had a good time.  I know I've said it before but I'm so thankful for good friends here to do life with.  Being far away from our families and friends in the US is hard but God has been so gracious to give us community here.  We are so blessed!

One more time...Happy Birthday sweet Eliana!  We love you!

Curious George Decor


Scrambling for the Velveeta Rotel Dip


Yes this is an awesome cake and yes, my awesome husband decorated it!  I baked and made the icing and he did all the decorating.  What a man!




Enjoying her ice cream


This was one crazy party!


Our team leader's 14-year-old son gave Eliana an old Curious George that was his and made her a copy of the Curious George movie.  It was so sweet!


The girls watching Eliana open her "snacks".

Eliana's Birthday

I think Eliana really enjoyed her birthday.  I'm sure she didn't really understand why we were doing what we were doing but I know she enjoyed the singing, candles and all the presents.  We started her day by going in and singing to her and letting her open her present from us.  I had decorated the apartment a little bit the night before with some streamers, Curious George balloons and a banner and she was totally excited about the balloons.  She wanted me to get them down and let her play with them right away.  We then had breakfast and let her blow out candles, which she loved.  Then throughout the day we called all our family members and let her open the gifts they had sent.  She had a lot of fun opening the gifts and had good reactions that everyone could see even over the computer so we were thankful for that.  After dinner we let her have a cookie bar and blow out candles again.  It's pretty easy to please a 2-year-old!

Here are some pictures of our day and a few videos at the bottom.  More to come after her party and an official 2-year update as well!

Yes, our two-year-old still sits in a Bumbo.  It's our best option for our table and since she's a tiny one it works!  :-)


Cheese!


I'm two!


Waiting to blow out the candles


Blowing ever so carefully


How did you blow out the candles Eliana?


Just had to show off Aunt Liv's baby diapers!  So cute!






Breakfast Candles from Drew on Vimeo.

Practicing Candles from Drew on Vimeo.