Our Little Monster

Elijah has been starting to walk for the past two months, but it's official. He is walking EVERYWHERE without holding on to anything. What a big boy! We can hardly believe it, but then he is pretty amazing and we knew it. What's even cuter is when he takes his Mickey blanket along for the walk, although he does need to hold on when he's lugging Mickey around too.

We enjoyed an amazing visit with Uncle Justin the other week and Elijah really loved the extra attention. Justin had a lot of fun too, maybe even a little more than Elijah. They are super cute playing together and we just wish we all lived closer.

Elijah: "something isn't right here"

Uncle J wearing a night night diaper on his head

This past week has been a super busy one as well, what with school starting! Elijah had his first day of school at All Saints Parents Morning Out program from 8:00-12:00. He's going between the infant and toddler room, since he's not totally ready to run around all those big kids. Plus, he would be the youngest by over a month. He's just so awesome and he has done very well. The first few days were a bit rough, but by the end of the week, he didn't want to leave! I'm sure he LOVES the constant activity and I enjoy the afternoon nap he takes.

Elijah sporting his new backpack 

Our big boy...soooo big

Hahaha...I guess he's going to take his Army football with him too

Anyhow, enjoy the updates. OH and as for me, I was hired for an RN Case Manager position at Carolinas Hospital System. I'm really looking forward to starting and getting back into the swing of working. I've missed it, but am very thankful to have had the past 15 months with my beautiful, smart, loving little boy. God is good.

We Moved!

Well, it's obvious that I've been neglecting the blog lately, but at least I have a great excuse. We finally found a home, closed, moved in and have been settling and updating every surface since. Not to worry, Elijah has been having a great time and is seriously interested in drills, screw drivers and hammers. We're going to have to get him his own tool set so he can get to work, but until then, we'll share.

I'm going to just post an overview of photos from the last month, since it would take forever to try to post all the separate stories since our move. Enjoy!

Our absolutely STUNNINGLY beautiful home from the street. We are very blessed to have found such a fabulous place to spend the next few years!

Our big boy, playing with Nona while I was with the moving truck at the house

Grandpa and Grandpa came to visit and took us on a mini-vacation to Myrtle Beach area. E loved the attention and play time!

Attempting to un-stick the shutters...they were painted shut!

Our beautiful entryway, now that it's no longer sea spray green. Yikes.

My sweet handsome boy, so happy to have hard floors to run around with his Mickey car.

Handsome like Daddy

Mommy's handsome little man, smiling for the camera

Smile! Hanging out with Daddy in Elijah's room.

Getting into the desk drawers in the kitchen. We want to make the little eating area and play space, since wifey/mommies spend so much time in the kitchen. 

                             

                                           Play time with Mommy. Elijah loves this soft blanket and his soft giraffe! 

Painting all the doors in the house...YIKES!!! What a huge project this has been, but I was thankful my parents were here to help out with everything! 

Little man ON THE RUN!

My Daddy and Elijah :)

I CAN WALK!

This morning, I decided I was going to really surprise mom! We were sitting on the floor playing together after breakfast, like we always do, and I was playing with a toy up on the chair. Mom was only a few feet away, so I decided I would finally just save myself a little time and figure out this walking thing. Yeah, I could have done it some time ago, but I've been holding out for the right moment.

So as Mom was sitting there quietly watching me, I turned and walked right over to her. SHE WAS STUNNED! Hahahaha. Thinking maybe it was a fluke, she put me a few feet away to see if I would do it again and you know what, I DID! Yeah, I'm definitely awesome. I feel bad that Daddy wasn't here, but because I love him so much, I did it a few times for him once he came home.

I'm gearing up for next week when we move into our new house. Nonna is going to be here on Wednesday and I don't want her to be bored :) Then a few days later, Grandma and Grandpa will be here! Almost all of my favorite people, here to see me! I can't wait to show off for all of them!

Father's Day 2012

Today was FATHER'S DAY!!! I have the best dad in the world, so Mom and I have been working on his gift since April. Thanks to Tera Brockway, a wonderful photographer in Lawton/Ft Sill, OK, we put together a really special DAD photo and a nice portrait for Daddy. Mommy and I are pretty sneaky, but we sneak with love.

Happy Father's Day 2012, to the best Daddy I could ever imagine. Love you!

Uncle Juju's Visit to Florence

Uncle Justin was able to get some trips that have overnights in Florence!!! His first visit was last weekend, from Friday to Sunday evening, when we took him to his hotel. He had a very early showing on Monday morning, so he figured it would be easier to just stay at the crew hotel.

We had a great time visiting and getting to know each other again. It's been a little while since we saw each other last, so it took me some time to warm up to him. He is a little scary when he whistles, but otherwise, he's pretty cool. I'm really looking forward to the next time he visits, in just over a week!

Trying on Uncle Juju's headset

AW25 9er, coming in on final approach...yeah I'm pretty good

You talk into it like this guys

Enjoying a night out

Recovering after a night out

Lunch at Apple Annie's :)

I'm a swimmer!

As I said in previous posts, I've been working hard on my swimming technique. Well, I'm amazing (as you all know) and I've figured it out! Mommy and Daddy have been taking me to the pool a lot lately and the other day, I figured out that when I splash with my arms AND legs, it's just like swimming. Watch out Michael Phelps, Elijah Bowerman is coming!

Now I'm really ONE!

I finally had my REAL 1st birthday!!!!! Although I've had two birthday parties already, Daddy and Mommy planned something small for just the three of us. Mommy found individual ice cream cupcakes and I wore my BIRTHDAY BOY shirt. We had a lot of fun and I really enjoyed playing in my ice cream cupcake. Happy REAL 1st Birthday, FINALLY.

Check out these chompers!

Although I am lacking a large number of posts since E-bug's birthday party, I wanted to post this very recent photo of his teeth! In the 10 days Matt was already in South Carolina, E-bug managed to have 4 teeth erupt! Oh yeah, talk about sleepless nights! Thank goodness, the whole top 4 are in and he has 3 on the bottom. Maybe we'll get a month break before the K-9s start pushing through. I've heard they're pretty rough.

Happenings in Florence

We've been doing all sorts of fun things since we've been in our new town. I think I really like it here, and I love that we're in the apartment because the kitties don't have very many places to hide. I know right where to find them and I'm a fast crawler, so I can catch up to them much easier now. I also got two new toys since we arrived, since most of my toys are in storage until we find a home. One of the toys is a big wooden box with activities on the side and top. I do a good job opening and closing the little doors on one side and I'm working on spinning the alphabet blocks. I also got my first drum set and, well, I'm awesome.

Lately, to keep busy and entertained, Mom has been taking me to Ebeneezer Park, the Rail Trail (a running/walking/bicycling trail), Barnes and Noble to read together and Mom and Dad even took me to my first air show. It was so much fun, despite not getting to see any planes fly. I guess they didn't take off until late afternoon, after I had gone down for my afternoon nap. Oh well, we'll catch them next time. We've also been hanging out with the Hanners Family, especially since their son Eli is only 5 or 6 months younger than me. I enjoy trying to teach him some of the things I know. In addition to all of these fun activities, we've also been going to the pet store to see the fish, birds and kitties just for fun.

On the weekends, we spend a lot of time in the pool and I'm really getting the hang of this swimming thing. I'm pretty sure that I'm doing a great job and with some more practice, I should be able to do it on my own someday. I'm definitely a water baby and I'm not afraid to blow bubbles in it!

At the Hanners home

Not a great picture of Mommy, but I was really enjoying their pool!

Daddy's little man at the air show

Reading date at Barnes and Noble

At Ebeneezer Park with Daddy

I really love to swing

I love working on complicated math problems

I'm pretty cool...kind of a big deal really

Go deeper Daddy!!!

Checking out the birds! I love the pet store.

Working on my lacrosse skills with Daddy

Our Journey to SC (cont)

So our long journey to South Carolina began well before 4:00 a.m., so Elijah and I were exhausted when we landed in Columbia. Matt was waiting for us outside security and Elijah was jumping in the stroller to get to him. It was so exciting, exhausting and such a relief to arrive safely. At least Elijah was able to nap on the 1hr 30min ride to Florence.

Out cold with his Mickey blanket

So glad to see Daddy and be in our temporary home

Our Journey to SC

Elijah and I made the long trip to South Carolina this morning. We've been packing the house for the last several days and since we had nothing left, we stayed with the Dearmon Family last night. Brandi picked us up in our empty home and took us into hers for the evening. It was so fun getting to spend time with them on our last Oklahoma night. Elijah was having a hard time, understandably so, but he really enjoyed hanging out with Bella and his girlfriend, Maci. He is definitely going to miss those beautiful girls. We've been so blessed to have so many wonderfully amazing friends/families to share these past years with in Lawton. Despite it not being a great town, we have been blessed in friendships.

A special thanks to the Dearmon Family for taking us in, getting up at 4:00 a.m. to take us to the airport, getting out in the rain to help unload our 5 or 6 pieces of luggage and carry-on, and for keeping it together so I didn't sob in the middle of the airport. We love you all so very much and look forward to the next time we see one another.