Violet's 7th Birthday

We began decorating the night before - putting streamers by her door, hanging twisted streamers around the house, getting balloons and gifts ready.  I made a trip to the store yesterday to get "birthday" wrapping paper since all we had was Christmas wrapping paper.  Dave and I got her 4  Berenstain Bears books, Looney Tunes cartoon DVDs, and an alarm clock (something she had always wanted so she can wake up on her own for school).

The morning of her birthday started with Dave and I waking her up singing happy birthday.  She woke up in her zip up purple with monkeys fleece jammies, cheerful, thankfully.  She immediately noticed the streamers in the doorway and said, "ohhh YES! Those are my favorite!"  She climbed down from the top bunk of her bed and played with those for a bit. Then we got all the kids dressed and headed downstairs where she was greeted with her balloons, streamers, and presents.  She was so happy to see balloons.  Grandma Martha was also visiting for the weekend (arrived Thurs night and left today, Sunday).  Martha had prepared a yummy dish called baked blueberry french toast so we ate that for breakfast.  It was yumm-O!

Violet hopped, skipped and danced her way through the day.  She enjoyed getting up in the front of the Sunday School kids along with her friend Ivy who had a birthday 4 days earlier.  They sang happy birthday to her which is always fun for a kid.  

I planned a lunch meal including some of her favorite things to eat - grilled chicken, stove-top macaroni and cheese (homemade by me), and broccoli.  She ate a huge serving of noodles, broccoli, and a few bites of chicken.  Dave was happy to grill the chicken (even though it was only 10 degrees out!) that we covered with a bottle of Sweet Bourbon glaze that we had gotten from Chev Ivo in Galena awhile ago.  After the meal Vanessa got super crabby so I put her in bed for a nap before we dished up the cake/ice cream.  I think Eli was sleeping too, I can't remember.

Dave and Martha made the cakes yesterday and I decorated them....with purple frosting, of course...she always requests purple frosting.  But that's ok, it looked great and she LOVED it!

I helped her light the candles with matches, not the best idea.  We played the "happy birthday remix" song on youtube while we lit the candles.  She blew them out before we sang but eventually got them all blown out.  She wanted the whole "7" on her cake so she got an enormous piece with ice cream.  Everybody enjoyed cake...especially Calvin.  Martha had a long drive ahead of her so she left shortly after cake/ice cream. 

Violet really, really wanted to do her pottery pot....so Dave worked with her on that for a couple hours.  It was very messy.  We brought in the little plastic picnic table from the deck, which was FREEZING.  She sat on a towel to warm her buns. She had to be near an outlet so the motor on the pottery wheel would spin.  We tried setting it up on the table, then the kitchen counter top, then realize both places would be too messy.  The little plastic table worked great.  The first attempt with the clay did not work since it wasn't pliable enough.  He added some water and it turned out better.

The end result was something that looked like a little pot, slightly crooked, but it was super cute.  No baking, it just dried out on its own with air.  I gave Violet a bath while Dave gave the others something for supper, and they were all off to Awana at 5:45 pm.  It was "crazy hair night" so Dave spiked up Calvin's hair into a mohawk, and I twisted Violet's hair into two buns on top of her head.  Not much I could do to her hair while it was soaking wet.

At the end of the day she said it was the best day ever!

Dave added swirled food coloring to the cakes, it was very pretty but not visible once it was frosted!

Her reaction to finding out her present was an alarm clock.  Calvin knew I was giving her one and he was excited to "give" it to her, and was satisfied with her excitement about it by giving me a smile and a thumbs up.

 "Ewww" to the gooey clay.

Calvin - 5 yr well child check

I took Calvin in for his 5 yr well child check up today at 9:15 am.  He was excited to go, knowing that he would not be getting any shots.  He had his boosters done when he was 4.  So glad those were done. 
Dave is out of town in Minneapolis today and tomorrow, so this morning was pretty busy.  I got Violet to school by 7:56 am.  Vanessa was still in her pajamas riding in the van though.  I went back home after taking Violet to school to get Vanessa fed something for breakfast, clothes changed, and Eli fed and changed too.  Then as soon as we had gotten home and completed those tasks, we turned around and got back in the car to go back to Waterloo for Calvin's check up.

I just have to record something Calvin said this morning, he's so silly.  On the way home from taking Violet to school, we drove past Bethany Bible Chapel. He pointed out "there's the church building!!"  and then asked me why it had a big pointy white thing on top, the steeple.  I told him it is a symbol that points up to God because we worship God.  He was quiet for a moment, then said, "Its a good thing that is on top of the building.  It points up to God so we don't have to.  The people inside the church don't have to hold their hands up and point up all the time."  The visual of him thinking people inside having to point up all the time made me laugh.  You crack me up, Calvin!

So on the way to the doctor, we arrived, and of course, he remembered it as soon as I parked the van.  He looked out the window and saw the 5-story building and said, "Whoa! That building has thousands of millions of bricks!"

He pushed the button on the elevator and wondered how it worked.  He remembered that sometimes when he goes with Dave in the mornings to take Violet to school that we sometimes see the doctor in the school.  I reminded him that his doctor has kids that go to the same school as Violet so that's why we see her there sometimes.  He was amazed that she had kids.

We were ON TIME to the appointment! Arriving at 9:10 am or so.  We only waited a few minutes in the waiting room (after he "organized" all the colored beads on the wood maze on the wall) when Calvin heard his name called and walked right back to the nurse.  First thing he was weighed and measured.
He's 44.2 lbs
3 ft 8 1/4" tall.
Both stats are in the 75% percentile, projecting his overall height to be about 6' when he's full grown.  He has grown 3 inches since his 4 yr old measurement.
The nurse led us to room #1 and took his bp and hr.
bp 100/50
hr 96 bpm

She left, I changed him into his exam gown that had zooming rockets all over it.  He said his legs were cold.  Vanessa sat in the stroller and he gave her books that fit in her lap.  Eli was in his car seat the whole time in the stroller.

The doctor came in and greeted us.  She asked what questions I had, and I brought up a concern of mine with Calvin having croup sometimes and his constant sniffing/snorting of his nose.  She asked a series of more detailed questions about the frequency and timing.  Calvin got bored with us discussing so he started playing with toys in the corner of the room.  He was so involved with his bead/wire toy that when she got to his exam, she let him bring the toy up on the exam table as she did her work.  She asked him all sorts of questions about what he likes (food), about his preschool, about our family.  When she got to the question, "What's your mom's name?" he went blank.  She said, "What's your dad's name?" He said, "Dave."  she said again, "So what's your mom's name?" He looked at me and I mouthed "Maria" to him, he looked like, "oh DUH!" in his head...and said "Maria." to her.  Silly boy.  She looked at everything...eyes, ears, nose, throat, tonsils, knees, tummy, breathing, heart, toes, muscle strength, etc.  She was done with his exam and said the lining of his nose is quite inflammed and isn't surprised what I said about his nasal issues.  She wrote a script for a nasal spray (Nasonex) which is a low dose steroid to help reduce the inflammation of his nose and suggested Claritin or Zyrtek to help with his allergies.  We'll check back in a month to see if its going away or not.

I asked if I could use the scale to weigh Eli (I was curious about his weight since its so close to his infant seat weight limit of 22 lbs), and he was 20 lbs 12 oz.  yay! He can stay in it hopefully til the worst of the cold winter is over.

We all made a stop in the bathroom.  Calvin got an angry birds sticker (he was SO excited to get that one!), then we left.

So glad it was a nice visit.  He seemed happy to be there, and the younger kids did a great job too.

 My scene walking in:

Tired mom

If I had a dollar for every time someone said to me this morning: "you look tired!" I would be rich. :P One of my bloodshot eyes must have given me away.
Time for a long nap! At least...as long as Eli and Vanessa sleep for their naps today.  Dave is hanging out with Calvin doing things and Violet is at a friend's house until Awana tonight.
Looking forward to the rest!
*update* feeling better after 2.5 hrs of sleep!

Calvin found a toothpick IN the couch cushion

 

A very weird, odd discovery was made this morning.  I was sitting on the couch feeding Eli.  Calvin came up to me and pressed his hands into the couch cushion nearest me to lean up towards me for something, probably to greet Eli.  He suddenly said "OUCH!" and jumped back with a start.   He said "something poked me!!" and started to gently feel where he had pressed the cushion and found something sharp again.  I was perplexed for a moment...wondering what in the world was sharp poking out of the couch cushion.  I felt for a pokey spot too.  I got poked.  Calvin pressed further on "the spot" and found a toothpick poking out of the couch cushion.  He pulled it out, amazed.  Both of us started laughing.  What were the chances that toothpick would have been discovered?  So funny.  Calvin was cracked up about it for the next few moments and wanted to go tell dad about it immediately.  I wonder how long it had been there?

 

Vanessa got to play in the snow today, thanks to Violet!

Violet rose to the occasion this afternoon.  She is being such an amazing big sister!  I picked up Violet from school today and Calvin and Eli were napping. I suggested that Violet take Vanessa out in the snow to play since she doesn't get much of a chance go out.  I'm usually tied up with Eli and can't leave the house.  Violet was more than happy to do so.  She got very excited about taking Vanessa outside in the snow and showing her what little kids who are 2 can do in the snow, like make and toss little snowballs.  She was (and is being) very sweet right now and I love it when she is like that.  Sister bonding.

Igloo

Rachel got the kids some snow-brick-making tools.  When the snow was perfect for packing, Dave and Violet went outside and started building an igloo, which Dave was determined to make complete.  They made a lot of progress, but didn't finish.  The snow melted and it fell down before they got the chance to finish it, but it certainly looked cool.  I hope we get more perfect packable snow cuz we have to make a snowman before the winter ends!  Calvin is reserving a carrot in the fridge for the perfect day.

Vanessa in a big twin bed

She slept on the twin bed last night, woke up at 2 am and tried to climb in bed with me, but I carried her back to bed. She cried on the way back to her room and demanded to sleep in the crib, which she seemed more comfortable in. She went back to sleep, thankfully, without a peep.  Tonight she will try the twin bed again, we will see how it goes. 

New Year's Eve 2012 with Hardingers

This visit blended right into Shawn and Kim's visit.  They left Monday late morning, and my family arrived right around noon.
Rachel had been busting it in the kitchen, prepping baking for the family's meal, planned for around 2 pm.  She heated up a smoked ham which she had sent directly from a smokehouse in NY, and also made potatoes, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, cranberry-orange sauce for the meat, creamed corn, and wine.  The meal was very delicious!  I asked Rachel to do the meal planning/cooking to make this visit with my family possible so I didn't have to do that part.
I wish I remembered more details about this visit.  I was pretty tired from our long day of travel.  Still great to be with family though!  Jay and Molly came up with Stella.  She's changing a lot!  Mouth full of teeth, eating lots of food, and crawling around!  We learned a new game called Malarky and discovered that my mom is a good maker-upper-of-answers-to-weird-questions.  We played the telephone pictionary game again too later in the day.  Violet played along with us and did GREAT.  She's a good reader and drawer and thoroughly enjoyed playing with us.  I think she felt very grown up.  Rachel served up some meatballs, fancy cheese, crackers, bacon wrapped shrimp, and other snacky stuff for the night's food.

A few pics from the visit -

Shawn and Kim gave us a wooden peg thing to decorate as a family project.  My mom and Violet took to that right away.  Calvin just wanted to color on his own.

Violet was eager to pour and flip pancakes on her own on Tues morning, Jan 1st ~ she did a great job.

 Eli and Stella!

 2 pics of Stella:

Uncle Jay created a treasure hunt after being inspired by the pirate hats that Violet and Calvin created with black construction paper and a little help printing and cutting out skulls and crossbones.  I drew up a map of the house on the main floor which got taped to the front panel of the box to give them directions.  Dave helped the kids make a "boat" out of cardboard, and Jay hid treasure all over the house and marked it on the map with a yellow dot.  This kept them entertained for hours.  So fun for them!!

 Eli and Rachel

 She came up with the idea to make snowflakes with coffee filters - they loved making those too.

Shawn and Kim visit Dec 30-31

We have a long history of having Shawn and Kim Thompson over to our house on New Year's.  It started back before any of us had kids.  It didn't work out this year to have them come ON Dec 31 and stay over for the new year since the Hardinger family made plans to get together over that time, so we opted to have them come Dec 30 and 31.  Dec 30 (Sun) is the day after we arrived home from Texas.  A little soon after just arriving home from a long trip to host people, I realize that...but with some relaxed flexibility and meal planning on the road, we pulled a visit together quick.  I'm glad we did because its always nice to see them.  Their two kids, Caleb and Genevieve are 2 yrs and 6 months, respectively.
I don't remember exactly what we did.  Rachel was around, having come early to our house to prepare food and organize the Hardinger get together in a couple days. We played telephone pictionary, which ended in fits of laughter about each person's series of drawings/phrases.  Caleb (who is slightly autistic) enjoyed running around with toys and watching Backyardigans.  Genevieve was so sweet, smiling and jumping on all our laps.  She loved the jumperoo toy, and even fell asleep in it.  The next morning Dave and Shawn took our older 3 kids and Caleb swimming at the hotel where Shawn's parents were staying.  Rachel, Kim and I did kitchen stuff while caring for Eli and Genevieve.
Violet and Calvin call Shawn Uncle Shawn.

Dave was testing out the smile detection feature on the camera - Shawn smiled - it snapped a pic.

 Genevieve asleep in the jumperoo.

 Rachel constructing her last pie of the year.

Christmas in Garland, TX with Armitages – Dec 22-29, 2012 and Calvin's 5th Birthday

The idea for this trip to Texas started awhile ago when Lisa and I were chatting on facebook, she was telling me about the house they lived in since moving out of Swiss Tower on the DTS campus. She mentioned it is easier to host people now that their house is bigger. Neil, Sten’s dad, purchased the home for him and them in June 2012. She suggested having family to her place in TX for Christmas and the idea was planted but no decisions were made. We decided to make the trek to visit the Armitage family for Christmas sometime in November. We had a garage sale to fund the gas for the trip in November. We didn’t decide travel dates until a few weeks before coming. Calvin’s birthday was Dec 28th so we didn’t want to be traveling on his birthday, we decided to go on the 22nd (Sat before Christmas) and leave the 29th (the Sat after Christmas). When deciding how to get there (driving, not flying), we decided to make the trip all in one day, as opposed to two days. Dave and I disagreed on that when we first started talking about how to get there. I thought…let’s just enjoy the drive and take it in two parts, stay at a hotel with a pool, etc. Dave thought no, the “getting in and out of a hotel” is a lot of work and an extra expense, so why not try make the trip in one day. His viewpoint is rather “why have 2 miserable days of travel when you can only make it one.” I agreed. We weren’t sure whether to drive all through the night, or all through the day. We decided to wake up early in the morning and drive there with the hopes that we would get there and avoid arriving super late in the evening. “Super early” for this family is 5-6 am. Dave and I got up at 5 am on the 22nd and loaded the van and got the kids in the van by 7:15 and drove off by 7:20. My goal in blogging for this trip is not to summarize each day but rather highlight certain memories worth recording. I did not keep a running tab of the events as notes for me to refer to like I’ve done in the past, this time it seemed way too hard to do. We didn’t really do all that much, maybe that’s why. We mostly stayed at Sten and Lisa’s house. The drive down to Texas was l-o-o-o-o-o-n-n-n-n-g-g-g. We thought it would take about 12 hours, but we didn’t arrive at their house to close to 10:30pm, which was 15 total hours of travel. The first few hours of the trip were crawling over icy roads that were aftermath of a blizzard that swept through the Midwest a few days before our trip so that lengthened it quite a bit. We stopped a few times for food/feeding/bathroom breaks/diaper changes. The kids slept a little bit, but mostly watched a marathon of movies. We stopped for one quick “sit down” dinner at a place called Taco Mayo and sat under a table with a big straw umbrella.
Even though we really thought the trip would never end, we eventually arrived at Sten and Lisa’s house on Lakemere Drive in Garland. Emma and Anja were the first to come out and greet us. Violet was a little shy. We said hi, hugs, got a tour of their house, got kids settled where they were sleeping, and went to bed too. Everybody was pretty tired from traveling even though we did nothing but sit all day.
Emma was gracious enough to let us have her room for the week. Eli slept with us in a pack and play crib, and the older 3 kids shared Neil’s room (he was gone for the week visiting family in Peoria). Vanessa in the pink tent, Calvin in the bed, Violet on a mattress on the floor. The first couple nights Violet shared the couch with Emma in the living room. She said she liked sleeping out there.
Sten and Lisa have two very cuddly dogs. One, a pitbull named Kaia, and second, a “puppy” (1 yr old) named Cricket, not sure of the breed. She was named Cricket because she likes to eat bugs. The dogs
are very gentle, snuggly, sweet with kids, and not aggressive at all. Calvin really needs to learn how to “be” around dogs (not rubbing his hands all over them all the time and getting in their faces and sitting on them) … I suspect that is why he may be the victim of many dog attacks lately. I’m glad nothing happened with their dogs. He enjoyed laying down with them, petting them, etc. the whole week.
There were random trips to and from various places, Dave went to a craft/paint store with Kristina to get some art supplies for a painting she worked on for us. Lisa made a few runs to the grocery store. Christmas morning the kids opened their stockings and presents. Lisa and I planned a few meals. We made for meals for the week these things:
* Chicken fajitas
* Orange chicken with rice
* Mexican chicken/cheese/tomato soup
* Potato soup
* Cheeseburgers
Lunches were random, usually simple or leftovers. The favorite of all the kids for breakfast was creamed eggs.
Anja (age 11) and Violet seemed to play together the most. Kristina (almost 15) is more shy, and seemed happy to escape to her room to work on the painting for us. Emma (age 13) was always around, playing with whoever was around her. The kids watched some shows on Netflix, played with lots of playdoh, colored lots of things, played with the dogs, played outside in the snow that Dallas got on Christmas Day (a couple inches!), which was very rare for Texas. Christmas morning our kids had less presents because we had our own LaMarche family Christmas on Thursday of last week before leaving – we didn’t want to pack all their presents and bring them home. That’s another blog post. The Armitage girls gave our kids some books and movies. One evening after dark they lit a fire and we had smores.
Dave and Sten hooked up a rope swing to a tree in their big woody backyard and that was a big source of entertainment the last two days.
We didn’t get out of the house much because leaving with our big crew was a little difficult. We did make a trip to the library to play some games and check out some books. Vanessa and Violet wanted Dora books, Calvin wanted super hero books. Eli scooted across the floor and sucked on the diaper bag handle. The library was really neat – one whole wall of the children’s section was turned into a little store scene, with different storefronts all connected together at a child’s height, featuring different books for each store. It reminded me of BBC’s Western town made of cardboard.

Friday the 28th was Calvin’s 5th birthday. In the morning he said he felt different.  He wanted his favorite breakfast, which in that moment, he said was oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar.  He was so happy the whole day. We made the day special for him by all going to Chick Fil A and letting the kids play on the indoor playplace there and treating everyone to lunch. Lisa made a delicious chocolate cake/chocolate frosting/chocolate chips from scratch and we all enjoyed that after the chicken fajita/taco dinner. Anja hung up a happy birthday sign along with a hand written note that said “Calvin, we just want to let you know that we wish you a….” above the happy birthday sign. We sang happy birthday to Calvin and he opened his presents ~ a transformer Optimus Prime, toy cars/trucks, a stomp rocket and extra nerf rockets, dinosaur coloring book, superman hero figurine and a spiderman “piggy” bank.

I am writing this post from Dave’s laptop computer in the van on the drive home. Eli is crying, Vanessa is whining she is “dir-dee” (thirsty), Violet and Calvin are watching Tom and Jerry, and my eyes are throbbing because I barely slept last night. Eli was a terrible sleeper each night, waking up every couple hours, I do not know why! Maybe the cold he has is keeping him up.
A couple funny moments in the week included Vanessa copying something Dave said. He was being silly getting the kids to bed one night and said with an accent that he was going to break the kids heads if they didn’t listen and obey while getting them ready for bed. Of course he wasn’t serious – but Violet was tired and emotional at the end of one day and really thought he was serious in that moment for some reason and started screaming about it. Vanessa picked up on what Violet said and as she went to bed, she was holding Dave’s hand and said, “Don’t break head, dad!”
Cricket (the younger puppy, age 1), also nearly climbed a tree by jumping up into it trying to chase a squirrel.
Most of the stops on the way home were quick.  The kids watched a bunch of movies and slept some.  Eli (poor baby) enjoyed the trip the least.  I wasn't having much success pumping milk and feeding it to him by the bottle so I made a point to nurse him every time we stopped for someone to go pee.  Our one "long" stop was Chick-Fil-A somewhere in Oklahoma (I think) on the way back for supper.  Or was it Missouri?  I don't know.  Either way, they all got to run around for some time.  I took over driving on the way home ... and somehow we got home at 10:30pm-ish.  To keep us awake, Dave turned on his Slacker radio program and played tons of crazy songs and sang the lyrics probably for my entertainment.  The only one I remember was "The Final Countdown" and some Michael Jackson songs.
Rachel and dad were there (after grocery shopping for our Hardinger family get together).  Dave and I got kids in bed...put everything away.  We were zombies...exhausted.  And we went to BBC the next morning...miraculously.
Dad crashed on the couch, Rachel in the guest room.  Eli in Vanessa's crib - Vanessa on an air mattress in V&C's room.  I was so ready for Eli to be "un-heard" at night...for my own sleep's sake.

Eli's first bites of food

-Eli's first food...bananas on Christmas eve (in Garland, TX with Armitages)
-second food - applesauce on Christmas, avocado

Observations...he swallowed some bites, some others he spit out.  Seemed to like the avocado too!
This seems like such a pointless post.

Christmas (Thursday night the 20th) 2012

I am writing about this a month later than it happened, so the details won't be there.  However, I'll write whatever I remember about it.  We did presents with our family before our trip to Texas, knowing that it would have been difficult to travel with the presents and bring them all home if we decided to open them there instead.  So we told the kids we would have our family's Christmas at our own house on the Thursday before we left.  Friday was reserved for packing.

Dave and I set up the little fake pre-lit Christmas tree a week or so prior to this, and on the day we set it up, the kids decorated it with the ornaments we have.  It seemed too easy, dealing with a fake tree.  No sap, falling needles, and no lighting it.  But the awe of a REAL tree and the smell of fresh pine were definitely missing.

A big snowy blizzard blew through Iowa and most of the midwest those two days (Dec 20 and 21).  So severe that school for both older kids was canceled Thurs and Fri.  This left me with finding something to do with the kids for most of those two days and trying to be productive getting ready for our long trip ahead of us.  We made sugar cookies and decorated them with red/green frosting.  I made two different kinds of frosting to accommodate both mine and Dave's frosting preferences (he likes hard and shiny frosting, I like fluffy buttery frosting).

When it was time to open presents the kids lined up their little chairs next to the tree.  I don't think Vanessa understood what was going on but she quickly caught on. 

Dave and I did most of our Christmas shopping on amazon this year.  We chose for Calvin a big life-like crane with a hook/string.  He also got two Tom&Jerry movies, a lego building board, and legos (from Gma Martha).  For Violet, a Fur Real puppy, kid's accordian, legos (from Gma martha) , a pink/brown dress, a "how to draw book", and a Curious George movie. For Vanessa, a Dora movie (notice the movie theme?  we wanted to get them new things to watch on the drive to TX), a Dora blanket, and a Dora Leap Tag book.  She also got a baby doll from Grandma Martha. Vanessa loves Dora...obviously.  She wanted to wrap up like a taco in her new blanket, watch her movie and play with her book immediately, of course.  We had to load the book onto the Tag reader first, which took some time.
All in all, they were VERY excited about their stuff and seemed appreciative and said thank you a lot.  It was a nice time.

Eli's 2nd tooth and fun bath time

His 2nd tooth poked through to make a matching pair of teeth emerge from his lower gums today.
He also thoroughly enjoyed splashing in the tub full of warm water.  I held him with my arms halfway in the tub while Vanessa and Calvin played.  Eli was intent on grabbing and chewing every tub toy possible and splashing his arms continually and loving every minute.  Calvin helped me clean Eli with the baby soap.  After so much activity in the water, a clean diaper, warm pajamas and quick feeding put him to sleep for a long 2 hour nap.

Eli's first tooth popped through the gums today

It wasn't there when he woke up.  After playing on the floor and gnawing his way through some more cardboard from a box he rolled over to, I noticed his gums gave way to a tiny lower central incisor. :)  I could see his teeth through his gums for about a week now, I am sure the other one is coming in the next couple days or so.  The kids get excited about every little "Eli" change ~ he is even attempting to crawl, getting up on his hands/knees and rocking, and trying to move his knees forward and walking with his hands separately.  The wheels in his brain are spinning as to "how" but he hasn't done it yet.

Eli - 6 months old

My little baby is not a little baby! :) I find out tomorrow his weight/height stats, but I'm going to guess this:

20ish lbs
29" long

actual:

20 lbs exactly
28 1/2 inches long

Will update tomorrow when he goes to his 6 month check at the pediatrician.

He is changing a lot, and the biggest thing I notice is his personality.  His face lights up with delight when he sees me, and he squeals with delight most of the time.  He gives the same reactions to daddy, Violet, and Calvin.  Sometimes Vanessa.  Vanessa gets in his face and bothers him so I don't know if he gets annoyed with her more than he is happy with her.  She tends to take the paci out of his mouth and give it back, which makes him mad.  Violet and Calvin know how to make him laugh though, but surprising him, playing peekaboo, or gently tickling him.  They still enjoy helping me with him - holding him and moving him from place to place, although since he's so heavy, that is much harder for them.  This morning Violet got him buckled into his car seat all by herself, she did an excellent job.  Love having a big helper!

Eli started taking the larger pacifier which he finds easier to suck on and keep in his mouth.  He still loves his snuggling blankets (swaddle muslin blankets).  He is still 100% breastfed and I know I can start introducing cereals/foods to him, but nothing in me wants to start.  It makes for more messy work and it makes his diapers messier.  And since he doesn't exactly seem starving (my little hefty chunk) I will probably wait another month or so to start foods.  It will be nice when I can put him in the high chair with some cheerios to keep him occupied for awhile.  He also is very spitty.  He will throw up milk many times throughout the day, I end up smelling like spit up.

He does take a bottle, and can hold it himself and suck from it.  I have not given it to him though, this is a report from daddy and Calvin when they fed him while I was away from the house for a couple hours last weekend.

Eli is happy to play on the floor surrounded with toys.  He can use his elbows/forearms to drag himself short distances, and he easily rolls both directions.  He'll gnaw and chew on everything, his favorite seems to be cardboard.  He also likes (tolerates) the jumperoo toy for a few minutes at a time too.

He can't sit on his own yet, but he can sort of hold the sitting position for a second or two before toppling over to one side or the other.  I haven't really tried to help him either.  I suppose he'll get there soon.
He's still riding in his infant carrier car seat.  I am bummed he won't make it through the winter in it, since it provides a warm place to transport him in the winter months.  His seat only is rated to hold a child up to 22 lbs.  

Google just informed me that I have filled my quota space for uploading photos. :( Boo!