Happy Birthday Eben!!!

 It's Eben's First Birthday!  We officially have a toddler, which brings great fun.  We celebrated as a family on Sunday because Dane works so late tonight.  We had a day full of fun - starting out with me causing the smoke alarms to go off (from oven drippage), waking Eben up terrified from his short (supposed to be long) morning nap.  No really though, we had a fun day - went to Chuck E. Cheese's to see if there was anything fun for him to do (and there were a few things), then went to Toys R Us to get him a toy, went swimming, had cake, opened gifts, and just spent some quality time together.  What an amazing year it has been with our little man!

 He tried a little taste of it and gagged, so that was his only taste.  But he still managed to get a little messy.

 Frosting in the hair...nice.

 He wanted to eat wood chips instead of cake...

Love this picture, but it came out blurry...so I made it look old, which I think works.

Clocks

So Eben is afraid of a song...weird, but hilarious kid!

We have tested it many many times...even when he is in his best mood immediately following a nap, and he cries every time.

Walking Better!

Dane has been incredibly busy at work, but most days he thankfully still gets to see Eben before he goes to sleep.  (Yes, I am still job searching...I am confident something will fall into place for me though).  Eben and I try to keep busy during the day.  This week we enjoyed the Ann Arbor Art Fair which is pretty much Fargo's Street Fair times 5, and it has a lot of higher priced beautiful art.  We mostly just window shopped as with all of these crazy new home expenses, I just couldn't justify buying more.

Eben and I started participating in U of Michigan's Resident Support Network...which is basically spouses of residents getting together (and they have adult only events for residents and spouses, etc).  We just started going to weekly playgroups, which I am so happy to have.  Every week they meet at different places in Ann Arbor - this week was the Botanical Gardens and next week is the Hands-On Museum, and other weeks it is at parks.  I think it is going to be great because we will not only make friends, but also see places in the city that we normally wouldn't have discovered.

We miss family and friends back home so very much.  As you can see from the pics below, Eben agrees with this statement.

Eben continues to work on mastering walking, and he is doing so much better.  We just love watching him practice.  I can't believe Eben turns 1 next week.  We are going to do something special of course...probably the this weekend with Dane though because he doesn't have time during the week.  Of course we will let you know what we did through pictures and maybe a video :)

And another video - here is one of Eben's better walking.  At the end there is also a segment showing that Eben has learned to jump on his bed, which he thoroughly enjoys.

SOOO Big!

Eben just started doing the "SOOO Big" trick.  Here is a video of it.  In the first segment he looks like a crazy person with his flippy hair...then I gave him a haircut before the second segment...MUCH better.  (oh, and the last segment is not his trick...just Eben playing).

Eben's Room

Our home is almost finally a home!  Our walls are painted, things are mostly where they should be, and we are in the process of putting the pictures/decor on the wall.  The only room that is totally complete right now is Eben's.  It is kind of a big deal because I was unable to decorate a baby room when he was born because we lived in a one bedroom condo in Fargo.  So, here is his very own room.

(I will post pictures of each room as they are completed.)    :)

I just love how all of the windows in our home are the perfect height for Eben to look out of.  He looks out them often, pointing to things and babbling about what he sees.

I painted and designed these four pictures on the wall.  It was a fun project for me to do this past late winter when Dane was on overnight call and Eben was sleeping.

 The toy box Eben is playing near was made by my father.  He is an amazing woodworker.

 This is an adorable little note he put on the inside of the toy box lid.  It says, "For My Little Buddy, Eben.  From Papa D - June 2010"

And there is a Lazy Boy rocking chair that we just bought...LOVE having it as it makes things so much more comfortable.

Jobs...

We now have air conditioning! (Since last Friday as scheduled).  We are feeling SO much better now that we aren't constantly sweating.  Eben and I are enjoying our days alone together again that Dane is at work (he started July 1st).  So far his schedule has been bearable for us.  Some middle of the night calls and a few times he had to go in to the hospital mid-family-time, but it hasn't been bad at all.  Dane seems to like his program.  It is fun to hear his stories and really feel like he is a neurologist now. 

I am searching for a job right now...a grueling experience, especially when I have NO connections to ANYONE out here. So the whole, "it's a who you know world," philosophy that my dad raised me on is helping me out times zero right now.  Wish me luck...I need it.

Why am I getting a job you may ask?  We need the money, plain and simple.  We aren't in a huge hurry for me to bring in income, but without income from me, we are going to be cutting it very close.  Part of me really wants to work to get out of the house, meet some people, use my degree I worked so long to get (and paid a lot for!), and to build my resume more.  The other part of me loves to be at home with Eben, doing whatever we want every day, and being there for every milestone he reaches.  It also helps that he is finally on a great schedule - sleeps 10-12 house straight through the night (!!!), 2 naps totaling 4-5 hours, and he goes down to sleep like a champ.

Yesterday Eben and I went to a playground that is in our housing community.  It is great for very little kids.  Eben had fun...until the end, haha.

Eben now gets into the standing position without holding on to anything.

 I think it's time to go now...

Silly Faces

I thought I would share this adorable and fun collage that will be hanging in our home (minus the Cheries Photography logo in the background).  These are Eben's 10 month pics (would have been 9 months, but my surgery pushed his pics back a month)...this is the reason I went to Cheries Photography in the first place.  My friend had this same type of collage taken of her son and I just LOVED it and had to have it.  We will have one of these done for all of our children.  Enjoy Eben's many silly faces!

First Steps!!!

Last night Eben took 6 steps all by himself!  The day before he started attempting to step, doing two full steps (falling on the third) numerous times.  Here is a video we took tonight to attempt to show you all his new accomplishment.  He has done better than we captured, but you get the picture.  I will post another video when he improves :)

Heat...ugh

We are struggling now.  The eastern US heat wave is also hitting Michigan...not sure if we are officially part of the heat wave, but the temperatures tells me that we must be.  We still do not have air conditioning (supposedly our new unit will be here and installed on Friday, which means tomorrow.  I will believe it when I see it).  If you are unaware of why, I will tell you the no-so-quick story.  We moved in with a home warranty - AC broke the first day - home warranty claim made - home warranty company a bunch of cheapos and wanted fixer guy to do everything possible to try to fix it instead of replace the unit - nothing fixer guy did worked - home warranty wanted to change out every single part of the unit except the casing - home warranty couldn't find parts so old - home warranty finally decided to get us a new unit - but home warranty is still cheapos so they need to order their own unit and ship it taking an extra week.  So, 21 days after moving in to our new home, we should have a working air conditioner that will relatively be free.

Ann Arbor is a stunningly beautiful city.  There are many times we are driving through town and I feel as if I am driving in Minnesota lake country...only trees surrounding both sides of the roads.  There are hills, trees, amazing restaurants, beautiful architecture, trees, parks, a river, trees, a lake nearby, tons of diversity in people and culture, and did I mention a lot of trees?  We have kind of made some friends too, which is nice.  We have a lot more work to do in that area though!  If anyone wants to visit please do! Our house is always open for friends and family :)

 We have a pretty large grass area/field right outside our tiny little backyard.  This is where Eben played yesterday for a little while before it got too hot.

 Eben crawls on his feet and hands when he is in grass or on cement.  We were at a get together with Dane's colleagues last weekend and Eben crawled around their patio like this entertaining himself for a long time.

Too hot outside...hot inside too, but not as bad.  He was so smiley yesterday afternoon.

And to end with a video because I know our families love to see their little man so much...this is a video of Eben waking up from about a 3 hour nap.  He wasn't crying when he woke up, he was just quietly babbling to himself.  Notice his facial expression he makes after he points for the second time (not counting the first point without his finger up)...this is his "anime" face I talked about a few months ago.  We think it's pretty funny.

Eben is just so pleasant and smiley after naps.  I love it.

Toddler-hood

Eben is a toddler...it's official.  He is still his joyful little adorable self, but he acts like a toddler now in so many ways.  His favorite thing to do lately is get into anything and everything he isn't supposed to and when he does, he watches and waits for us to say, "No, Eben."  He has also become much more difficult to take out to eat, which is a bummer because we are in a new town and have so many amazing restaurants to explore.  I guess we will have to find a sitter soon (which means our "date night" will now cost double...we were spoiled to have grandparents take him for free in Fargo).  Eben also cries when he doesn't get his way or a toy (or non-toy) is taken away from him.  Shopping used to be so enjoyable with him as he would just quietly look around...not anymore.  He does just fine as long as we are constantly moving.  The moment I stop to look at something, he gets annoyed (well some days he is much better than others).  Oh the joys of toddler-hood.  Do we still love almost every single moment with him? Of course.  He is just so fun!

 Enjoying the new view from the master bedroom.

 These three pics were were taken a few weeks ago before we left Fargo.

 He just loves to hold this toy in his mouth when he crawls around.

 And to end with a couple of videos.  The first one is of Eben "pouncing."  This was filmed right before we left Fargo (notice the boxes in the living room).  He did this frequently for a few weeks and now we see it ever so often.




The second video is of Eben pointing and another cute moment.  He recently started pointing at everything that is interesting to him.  This is my favorite part of shopping with him because he points a lot and makes excited noises.  The funny thing about his pointing is he always points higher than the object.  Some day I am sure he will get the angle right :)