History cannot deny!

We'll sing the Butler war song,

We'll give a fighting cry;

We'll fight the Butler battle--

Bulldogs ever do or die.

And in the glow of the victory firelight,

Hist'ry cannot deny

To add a page or two

For Butler's fighting crew

Beneath the Hoosier sky.

B-U!

 

We are jumping for joy around here as Mama and Daddy's alma mater has bought them a trip to the NCAA Basketball Tournament's Final Four! Much celebrating will occur in their home town and Mama and Daddy will join the action and excitement. Here's to our Dawgs for a run to the 2010 national championship. If the Colts can't pull it off, maybe the Bulldogs will.

Movin' On Up!

Elias has become quite mobile these days! He has mastered quadruped (on all fours) crawling and is quite fast at it!

He also enjoys a stroll holding hands through the common hallways of the schoolhouse. Bravery has inspired him to "let go" and try to walk/run unassisted. Elias also discovered how to climb up stairs!

All this mobility granted Elias an "upgrade" of his sleeping quarters (although he still spends 1/2 the night in Mama and daddy's bed.) His parents were quite fearful of the discovery of climbing and ending up on the floor with some sort of bleed. So they got him a bed that lowers all the way to the ground.

In other news, we are quite pleased what has been going down in Washington. Finally families with hemophilia will not be plagued with not being covered due to preexisting conditions or meeting their cap before high school (the cost of factor is just not coming down!) We are breathing a little easier these days with port placement and the start of prophylaxis treatment on the near horizon. Thank you Barrack #1 for the start of a little healthcare reform!

Springin' Out

We all have a whole lotta cabin fever round' here. This week has brought Indianapolis temperatures above freezing along with some sunshine. So we sprung this wintry cave and headed out to enjoy the first inklings of Springtime.

Out to Lacy Park

Our First Swim Class

Elias really enjoyed his swim class. He was one of the best swimmers of the infants (meaning not crying.) Elias loved to swim on his tummy, kick, back swim, dunk, and jump in the pool! A fun time was had by all and he is definitely following in the "flippers" of his Uncle T.

3/4th of the way to a Year!

Just a quick post here of some 9 month old stats:

Weight: 20 lbs, 12 oz (55%)
Height 28 1/2 inches (60%)
Head Circumference: 46 1/2 cm (83%)

Motor Skills:

• Pulling up in crib, toys, coffee table--but not too steady, and thinks it's quite hilarious

• Able to walk by holding two hands
• Army crawling everywhere (hasn't figured out hands and knees and well, just can't get to pulling Daddy's power cord or to the bookshelf fast enough)
• In and out of sitting to hands and knees all the time--this has turned into a sort of locomotion
• Can get to "downward facing dog" with fully extended legs and arms

Although Mama and Daddy can't leave the room for more than an instant AND many more bruises and goose-eggs are popping up daily, we are thankful to be still bleed-free. We are loving the extra padding of his cloth diapers, Comfy Crawlers, knee pads, and helmet (not pictured here since he figured out how to remove it...)

Other favorite activities:

• Book time
  
• Playing music with his new musical instruments
  
• Bath time--and hopefully soon swimming!
• Peek-a-boo
• Eating :) We are venturing into the land of proteins...bringing on the eggs and meat. (We all enjoyed scrambled eggs and pancakes this Saturday (Elias had mini-cakes).
• Napping with Daddy

We are all eagerly awaiting his top two teeth to come down so that we can all get back to sleeping routine again (although Elias doe not by any means "sleep through the night." TOO BUSY!)

Funny Bubbles

Please be sure to turn up your volume, but not too loud as Mama was laughing quite hysterically. As a premise, she was going to film little Elias playing the simple game of peek-a-boo, and this just happened:

Apparently, Elias has quite the sense of humor!

A Picture Says a Thousand Words....

A Special Thanks to Crowe's Eye Photography for taking these beautiful pictures! (As well as capturing our wedding day as well.)

LOVE is in the barrel....

Elias has been loving mobility! He's made it on all fours, but can't quite figure out how to go forward. The army crawl still reigns supreme as getting into bookcases. (Check him out in his new red diapers...perfect for today!)


Here's him showing off downward facing dog (caught the picture a little late)--another new favorite! Our little yogi...

Elias LOVES his sippy cup! He is also such a good eater! Mama makes him all sorts of good eats including mangos, pears, apples, spinach, beets, celery, potatoes, avocados, and carrots--whatever comes in the organic grocery delivery that week. She has a Beaba Babycook which makes babyfood making a snap! The only dislike is regular cereal.

In other news, we are now just digging out of the snow and another ear infection. We here in the barrel look forward to the end of cold n' flu season, ear infections, and on to some Springtime!

Happy Valentine's Day from our barrel to yours!