Happy Half Birthday Elias!

We made it! All of us in one piece. Held together by unconditional love with sprinkles of exhaustion. Here's the little monkey's stats:

As measured at our 6 month pediatric hemotology visit

Weight: 18 lbs

Height: 67 cm or 26 1/3 inches

Milestones:

Scooping objects and holding them
Transferring objects from hand to hand
Turning the pages of a book

Sitting unsupported and playing

Standing with support

Jumping with support

Rolling: this includes going into other rooms

Eating solids: loves pears and bananas!
Babbling: favorite words are goo, gee, goy, and hi

For his half birthday, Elias got his very own Sophie and is borrowing his friend's Jumparoo.

We also put up the Christmas tree and decorations!

Elias tried to eat Virgin Mary's head! Oh Elias..

Being Thankful

This year we have much to be thankful for. Here's our top 10 in no particular order:

1. Family--and our newest addition to the barrel this year!

2. Health--despite a new medical diagnosis of a manageable disorder, we live each day with only that as our challenge

3. Love--being surrounded by family and friends who love unconditionally

4. Opportunity--new jobs, passing the Bar, and directing our energy to help others

5. Laughter--nothing is better than hearing the pure laughter of a baby and having days that we laugh so hard we cry from all the zany adventures around here

6. Warmth--in hearts and home

7. Generosity--for all the gifts, hand-me-downs, and essentials to help us raise a happy, healthy baby with more than we could ever afford to give him ourselves

8. Friendship--good friends are hard to find, great friends are like fine wine

9. Marriage--because of all the daily gifts it brings and we hope that all people can be able to experience a beautiful partnership through marriage

10. God--because He truly gave us so many Blessings this year

New friends and short farewells...

It's been sometime since Mama has had a stash of time to sit down and post. But in the last week, we say a temporary good bye and a hello to new friends.

Here we are enjoying a Motus playdate. In the last few years the women of Motus has supplied a brood of Motus boys (and one darling girl...). we even have a new one on the way any day now. (Thanks to Mrs. Z and her new fancy camera for the shots!)


Gram and Grandad have packed up and headed southwest for the winter. We are so grateful for all that they helped us with over the past 6 months and will be sad that they they will be so far away all winter. We think Gram had a hard time saying good bye too. But we will get to see all the grandparents at Christmas. Good thing Elias has discovered the joys of destroying all things paper...little does he know that he gets to tear lots of it in just a few short weeks.

Daddy's New Office

We have finally finished working on getting Daddy's New office togther after much elbow grease and work. Thanks to everyone who helped us out. Here's some pictures of our hard work.

Mastering the Milestones

This post is for all of Mama's PT friends. Look at what skill we are working on mastering this week. Sitting unsupported! However his balance is that like a person who has suffered a TBI and falls over without any protective mechanism. Makes Mama nervous and feels that a helmet may be in our near future. There controversy out there of whether or not to helmet little hemophiliacs. It will be a decisions we will have to make soon to protect his head from bleeds or the social implications. We plan on doing knee pads for sure as we have historic hardwood flooring--once creeping (aka crawling) comes along.

Getting ready to watch some NCAA Basketball and doing some man-time with Daddy on the couch....

Thanks Mrs. S for such a great new toy!

A Perfect Fall Day

Today in Indy, we had a very beautiful Fall day. The leaves have all fallen and neighbors are sweeping them into bags in preparation for winter. Lady bugs are flying around to wish summer an official good-bye. The air is crisp and smells of warm hearths. So we decided to take advantage of it by going to try out the swings at our local park. Elias loved the swings! Check it out:

A San Francisco Trick or Treat

Happy 5 months Elias! We celebrated this momentous occasion with our very first plane ride to California to attend the 61st Annual Meeting for the National Hemophilia Foundation. He doesn't look too sure here, but in actuality, Elias did very well and flirted with every woman on the plane. Such a social charmer!

We were very Blessed in that Hemophilia of Indiana, a fantastic organization for families and individuals affected by this disease, graciously sent us. Mama learned many new facts about being a carrier of hemophilia with low factor levels. Mama and Daddy both learned lots of information to help guide them while Elias grows into an active little boy. It was good to connect with new families from across the country who are affected by hemophilia or other bleeding disorders. It is a good feeling to know that treatment has completely modernized and continues to come a long way. Now if only we can have a cure. Also, Mama got the opportunity to catch up with her old Hemophilia camp friends which she had not seen in over 10 years. Quite the reunion!
Opa, Oma, and Uncle T also joined us in San Francisco. They spent the time learning and bonding with us as well. Uncle T got to meet Elias for the first time and the two went out to "pick up chicks" in their creative Halloween costume as Han Solo and Chewbacca.

Here are some other highlights from our trip:

Elias watchin' some PBS in the hotel room...

Drinkin' good milk is exhausting...

Before our first cable car ride

Hanging off the cable car, enjoying the view