And, finally, friends, a Bump Update.
She's due in early May and I'm getting big as the goodyear blimp.
Yes, I said "she". Eli's getting a baby sister.

We spent a week at the beach with David and Jaime and cousin Hunter. We had a great time. There was never (never never never) a dull (or quiet) moment thanks to Eli the Entertainer. He loved his new audience in his aunt, uncle and cousin and they in turn, loved to laugh at his joke and silliness, which was great since we're getting a bit weary of the same old material. At 18 months, Hunter is a sweet quiet little guy and I'm halfway surprised that his parents didn't try to shield him from Eli's antics so that he'd not learn any of the crazy tricks.

We found an old kite in a closet that we brought out to the beach one afternoon. Eli fell madly in love with it and we flew it three times. He's a good kite flyer. He loved it so much that one afternoon we couldn't even separate him from it to ride the stroller home. So he flew it right behind the stroller the whole way back to the condo.

And, ladies and gentlemen, WE HAVE ACHIEVED POTTY.
There are still occasional accidents, but shortly after the first of the year, Eli declared that he wanted to use the potty and wear big boy underwear. And now he does!

We have had some amazing breakthroughs in the last month. I mentioned the big boy bed. He loves it. LOVES IT. He sleeps beautifully in it. It took him a month (until this morning, actually) to realize that he can get up in the morning and pad down the hall to our room. This is fine as long as he does it in the morning and not in the middle of the night.

here are some pics of him getting ready for his first night and then some nap shots because sleeping kid-babies are so gorgeous.

Eli had a great Christmas. Mommy and Daddy brought him a train set (and a month later he is still playing with it!!). He got a baseball glove and John Deer tool kit, some Curious George Books and a camera from G-daddy. Grumpy and Grandmaman got him a snow globe and a table and chairs to use by the pool. In addition to the huge haul from his uncles and aunts, he was thoroughly spoiled.

And, of course, terribly cute.

Eli is a really silly kid. He has a great sense of the absurd. Perhaps that's just what being two is about, but it makes for a fun household.

He loves to do "reps" with Kevin's push up handles.

He swept the local playground recently wearing a plastic knight's helmet.

And frankly, I really hope he never grows into his father's size 15 shoes. They are really hard to find!

December took us to a few great birthday parties. Chloe (a sort-of-cousin) celebrated the big 3 in Pilot Mountain and Hunter and Eli celebrated with her by driving her Barbie four-wheeler around the yard. Pink didn't faze them in the slightest, the sensitive young men that they are.

Baikal celebrated her third birthday with a bear hunt in our park. everyone got binoculars to look for bears (luckily, the only ones that reside in our park are cuddly and stuffed) then we all gathered an an old fountain for bear stories and bear cookies. A STELLAR party!

Well, I thought I was going to start the new year by being a better blogger. So far, I've failed miserably. It is, however, still January, so maybe I'll give myself a little slack.

Here are many many pictures from our recent adventures, beginning with Christmas and ending with a recent trip to the beach with Jaime, David and Hunter.