OK! Since everyone has been asking, and it's been forever since I've done an update, I'll stay up late & do one! Since Sept. & Eliea's 1st Bday, we've been busy! She's now 17 months old!

We also got a new kitten, Miso: she is super high-energy & plays well with Elie
and for Halloween we dressed Elie up as one of her favorite animals that she can imitate, a monkey: (she can also mooo like a cow, meow like a cat, and is recently saying "Purple")
and to celebrate Eric's 40th Birthday, we went to Hawaii for a little R&R! It was the best: scuba diving with manta rays at night, turtles & dolphins by day, checked out the volcano & camped on the beach every night!
At Christmas time we went back to Newton, Iowa, to visit with Laura's family & got into the holiday spirit! Elie loved being around so many other kids, she actually got tired...
And then last but certainly not least, we found out that we're expecting again! This is a picture of our perfect little boy!! Due July 27th 2010!! (would be cool if it was the 25th, my grandpa's birthday, or the 22nd, cousin Katie's birthday, or the 18th, aunt Maria's birthday....)
We're all super excited, and I'm sure Eliea will be a great big-sister! So that's the BIG NEWS!! :)

Sorry to keep it to ourselves for so long!!! Since this will get posted to Facebook, I figured this may be the best way to get most people the news at once. I just don't have the time nor energy these days to put together some sort of cute announcement card- I don't know how some moms do it.

We hope all is well with everyone else, and I promise not to let so long go again between posts!

Sending love xoxoxxoo

Laura, Eric, Eliea & brother.............

Eliea's First Birthday!

Sept. 18th came & went already! zip!

We spent the special day in Kansas City with my folks, who made her a PINK cake & decorated the high-chair, gave presents & a funny hat, and we all sang to her. She had the sweetest smile as we sang- something in her eyes told me she knew it was a special day just for her.

ere is her first experience of cake:
and I have been waiting for her to be able to wear this shirt!

Thanks to Nana, Poppa, cuzaunt Emmy & her sweet daddy for a great time.

She is walking now, with confidence, and taking on the task of learning to go down the stairs. (up is easy)

She is a lot of fun!

hope you all are having fun too!

Time Flies

We had a great summer this year, getting lots of traveling in to visit family.

First in Indiana, we ate lots of corn at Eric's sister & parent's cabins on Dewart Lake. We were lucky enough to have Nana & Poppa (my mom & dad) come to be a part of this gathering too!

Here is Eliea & her cousins Mateo & Elena, in the serious business of shucking corn.

(and then of course eating it too)

had a boat ride....

Then a visit to the big windy city of Chicago- the aquarium & the lakefront was a great way to spend the afternoon!

Then we visited another cabin on a lake in Wisconsin, with my Aunt Jan & Uncle Ron, again with Nana & Poppa!

Played in water, did some waters-skiing (the adults), canoed, played on the beach, went for walks, and then sat quietly by the lake at sunset (again, the adults!).

Hope everyone else had a great summer too! xoxooxxooxoxoxoxox

Catching up

I have some reporting to do for May & June it seems, seeing as though it's already July! Summer always seems to fly by to quickly...
Let's see: in late May we visited family in North Carolina. This included the Mills side of the family- we got to see both Lance & his beautiful family, during which we were lucky enough to also visit with Burt, Sally & Shake!
Then in Chapel Hill, we saw Roger & Christina as well, and it was great to hear Christina's stories from her recent adventures!


And then we visited Laura's brother & sister in law, where Eliea had her first pool experience, which she loved!










In June Eliea joined us for her first camping experience, when we went to Telluride for the bluegrass festival. Here are a few of my favorite photos from that trip, although there are so many to choose from!

It rained on the 4th of July, so we didn't go anywhere to show Eliea her first fireworks, that will have to happen another time. I will be sure though to keep more up to date for the rest of the summer! Hope everyone out there is enjoying their summer too.
cheers!

April 2009

We have noticed that every time the grandparents, either side, come to visit, Eliea is doing something new during their stay, or directly after they leave! Such a wonderful influence to have on the next generation. Less than a week after Sylvia & Dale visited, Eliea decided it was time to pull herself up to standing!
Looking forward to the next visit...


We also got another blast of winter storm before finally heading
into some warmer days. The snow was so high that we couldn't open doors and Eric decided to take advantage of it, and brought out his snow board! This shot was taken out the dining room window as he was boarding down the backyard.
He wondered why he hadn't tried it before now!

Here's just a bonus picture of Eliea, just 'cuz she's cute...

get ready, get set, GO!

Eliea is on the move! Surprising her Dr. even, she can now sit up, crawl, and has already gotten herself to her feet, but kept her hands on the floor... it's only a matter of time...
Here is a very cute pose she does when she's taking a break from crawling.

And here's a funny little face she's discovered, by sucking in her bottom lip...
She's so much fun!


It's snowing like crazy up here in the mountains, again this
weekend ontop of a couple of feet we got last week....
Here's photo of our deck the first time it snowed last week-
March is always our snowy month.
Spring should be around the corner!

Firsts

The first airplane ride for the little one, and she did just fine. We flew Denver straight into Des Moines. We had to get de-iced in Denver before flying out, and that made us all a little fussy, but otherwise Elie just slept!
Here we are with family members.

Eliea the Magnificant

Eliea is now easily turning over- front to back, back to front! I think it even surprised her as well. She's getting to be a big girl- 5 months on Feb. 18th.

Elie is working on her fourth month now, with strong legs that like to stand. Here she is in a door-frame bouncy chair, which she enjoys.

We'd like to thank deeply our wonderful friends / extended family, Don & Kathy Cobb, who were our very first babysitters! We finally had our first night out (dinner & a show) with Steve & Taylor, while Don & Kathy watched the kids.
Hope they had fun too!

Thank you to my friends who nudge me to post more here. The latest photos & news of Eliea- she is now 3 months old already! Smiling and coo-ing, grabbing things & sleeping through the night once in a while! :) Still no hair yet... working on it!
She enjoyed her first Christmas, here are some photos of that.

Elie is 1 month old!

Ok ok, I didn't want to be the type that plastered their blog with photos of their baby, but come on! Ain't she just the cutest thing?! I know I'm biased. She's now officially one month old, and here she is playing on a fabulous playmat that the Bewyers gifted us at our Colorado baby shower. She loves it, and looks like she isn't camera shy either!
Also, Eric has finished cutting & placing the cool slate tile for the back-splash in our new kitchen, check it out! It's gorgeous & really looks great in the room.

Elie is 1 week old

We celebrated little Elie's one week birthday by playing the Beatles Birthday song & dancing & singing to her, all of which she soundly slept through! We took video of it though, so that we can show it to her on her 18th Birthday.
She pretty much has this "sleeping through the day" down pat, it's the sleeping during the night that she hasn't gotten the hang of yet. Neither has her momma.

It has been an unusually warm, sunny (no snow yet!) September here in the mountains, and we took advantage of it by taking pictures on the deck.

Eric and my folks have been steadily working on finishing the new kitchen in our house. Currently they have been putting together the backsplash. Here is a photo of how they are laying out the slate tile pieces after Eric cuts them.

We are thankful to all for your thoughts, gifts and help throughout this new period of our lives!

Baby Graves is here!!!!

Her water broke at 8am yesterday (9/18), as Laura was rolling over in bed. The contractions started 15 minutes later. By 12 they were only 3-5 minutes apart, and we were getting a little antsy since we live 45 minutes from the hospital, but we still had some guys coming over to correct the new kitchen counters that weren't installed entirely correctly. Laura wouldn't let me cancel them. They showed up, I told them to move quickly and they did. By 2:00 we were on our way to the hospital. At 3:00 the contractions started getting really strong, and four hard and fast drug-free hours later, little Elie arrived. Truly amazing. Laura did great.

Here's all the detailed statistics....

Eliea Kylyn Graves

(Elie for short)

Born 9/18/08 @ 7:18 pm

18.6 inches long

5 lbs 15 ozs

(long and skinny, just like her pa)

blond hair and dark brown eyes
with a birthmark on her head over her left ear (also like her pa who has one over his right ear)

And truly beautiful.

Thanks for all of your prayers and love.

Can't wait to introduce her to you.

E & L & el

House Update

We've been making some head-way in our shared living-room/ kitchen area in our mountain home. We were lucky enough to have Dale visiting again in July to help us put in the kitchen cabinets and the bamboo floors throughout the whole area! Check it out: first ont he right is Dale & Eric with the cabinets installed, and then on the left is a shot of the bamboo flooring next to the edge of the fireplace in the living room.
And as a bonus, here is a beautiful shot of the cool sunset I saw on the way home from work tonight!