Eli is Nine Months Old

I wanted to wait until Eli went to his 9 month doctor's appointment before posting this month's post.

Eli is healthy and weighing in at 20 lbs. and 27 3/4 in. 
He is still in size 3 diapers and 6-12 month clothing

Eli had a great month filled with adventures.

Eli had his first 4th of July. He had a great time chilling and enjoying his independence.

He also went to a birthday party with bounce houses. His Great-Aunt Sherry took him down a slide.

Eli thought it was funny when I told him it was bedtime.
Look at that belly!

Eli got to meet his new cousin, Noah. I thought this was the sweetest picture of Eli reaching to him.

Eli got to visit the UK for 10 days. He wanted his Aunt Bri to hold him one last time before leaving on a jet plane.

Just enjoying the ride through sunny England

He loved the apartment we stayed at and you can see he is standing with the help of the couch.

He loved to crawl around and tried to escape his Great-Grandmother's conservatory.

Meeting so many people wore him out!

This was his favorite toy to play with

He loved playing with Chelle

He climbed into his daddy's military bag

 He also got to meet his cousin, Billy, for the first time

 He had an interesting way of sitting in the stroller

Once we got back to the States he wanted to play in a box and be my special present

This was such a fun month with Eli. He loves to laugh, blow raspberries, wave, and play peep eye (peekaboo). He doesn't meet a stranger which helped in the UK meeting so many new people. I can't wait to see what this next month has in store for us.

Back to School Treats

School is back in session!

I'm hanging posters, shelving books, and adding a few new touches to my room before my students arrive in one week.

We have Meet the Teacher this week.

To show my students that I'm looking forward to being their teacher I created these tags.

"Thanks for POPPING in Mrs. Gilburt's 8th Grade English room"

After cutting them out, I attached them to Blow Pops with curling ribbon.

I hope I see many of my students' smiling faces this week.

Do you have a creative treat for your students?

New window

On our endless list of things to change in our house is new windows. If anyone has ever researched window costs you will see why this one is taking us so long to complete. It's very expensive to replace windows in a house. We've decided to take it one window at a time. 

Our windows are original, which means they are forty years old with mostly no screens and several BB gun holes in them. Some of them do not open, some slam, and some are cracked. These windows have seen better days. 

We started with the dining room window as it had cardboard over the broken portion. This was easily going to be our most expensive window because it is so big.

The window when we first moved in. 

You can almost hear it crying, "Change me!"

 I forgot to take a picture of the cardboard part...probably because it was such an eye sore.

You can see a tiny sticker on the left window that means that it doesn't open.

By chance, Chris was talking to someone who works at a local door and trim store in town and found out that they had one that they needed to get rid of. They offered it at a great deal and we couldn't pass it up.

Our new window!!

Chris took a day off work to install it with a little help from my dad. My handyman continues to outdo himself.

 It's so bright and shiny and really gives our house a facelift

 The other window to the left has darkening screens on it that came with the house.

Can you see how much better the house looks with the window on the right??

Now we need another one to match it.

That's one window down, ten more to go!

Flying with an 8 Month Old

I wanted a separate post for going on a plane with Eli. I wanted to show other parents what we did in hopes that it might help others. I titled this "Flying with an 8 Month Old" because I believe the age of the child makes the biggest difference in taking them out in public. At 8 months old Eli is a fun and happy little guy. He is crawling and standing up which had its benefits and disadvantages. 

So, let me start from the beginning:

• Flight Preparation- Eli went as a lap child, but because it was an international flight we still had to pay a few hundred dollars for him. This allowed us another carry on, checked bag, and stroller/car seat. We chose the car seat as we were borrowing a stroller once we got to Norwich. It was a little harder to keep a hold of our carry on luggage and Eli walking through the airport, but we managed. 
• We made sure to pack several snacks and toys. I read from other mothers to not overload on the toys. We alternated the few we brought and it worked. 
• I made these about an hour before we left for the airport (don't mind the sloppiness). My sis gave the me the idea and I researched Pinterest for the wording to make these index cards attached to a pack of gum for the passengers around us. 

• I brought my pump, Eli's sippy cup with water, baby food pouches (these were so much easier to handle while traveling than a spoon), and breast milk. We had no problems going through security with these items. TSA was very helpful and calmed my fears of having to dump or taste the breast milk.



Can you see how excited he was for the flight?

• DFW, as well as Heathrow airport, were wonderful in providing a clean family restroom to change Eli before the flight. I'm not a fan of airplane bathrooms and tried to keep the changes down to a minimum.
• American Airlines did not pre-board families (strange?) on the flight to the UK, but we had very little trouble making our way to the back of the plane with the rest of the poor people with children.

He loved looking out the window

• Before Take Off- We wanted to get Eli as comfortable as possible in the beginning. We let him look out the window and wave to the passengers around us.
• I didn't know how Eli would do with the pressure so we clipped his pacifier to his pajamas and let him use it as much as possible. 
• As another way of comfort, we kept him in his pajamas so he knew that it was night-night time.
• As soon as we sat in our seats, I remembered from another post to put several diapers, wipes, and changing pad in the pocket in front of our seats. This truly did come in handy and we weren't reaching under our seats when we needed these things most. 

• During the flight (Dallas to UK)- All flights from Dallas to the UK are overnight. This worked in our favor as we took off at 9pm (8 1/2 hour flight) which is also Eli's bed time. I would recommend overnight flights again because within the first ten minutes he was sound asleep. The pressure never bothered him. 
• Chris and I took turns holding Eli while we ate or watched a film. We got an hour or two of sleep before landing. 
• We did ask American Airlines about a travel cot for the flight, but they said they were mainly for babies who were younger than Eli and that he wouldn't fit.
• During the flight (UK to Dallas)- The flight back to Dallas left at 12pm (9 1/2 hours). Eli was wired and ready to go during this flight. We got his snacks out and let him meet the people around us. There were several families around us and a very nice Indian woman sitting next to us who greeted us upon arriving in our seats. She even held Eli numerous times during the flight so we could eat or when he got a little fussy. 
• Eli only slept an hour on the flight back. Chris and I took shifts holding him. Since I nursed Eli, Chris changed him in the bathroom. Even though it was a tight squeeze in the bathroom, Chris seemed to complete the task flawlessly.

• Nursing- Because Eli fell asleep within the first ten minutes on the flight to the UK and slept almost the rest of the 8 1/2 hour flight, I needed to pump. I brought batteries to use my pump because I was afraid that the plug adapter would short out my pump. I bought a new one a week before we left and never used the battery portion until the flight. I brought the wrong batteries for it and unfortunately could not pump. I was a bit uncomfortable the rest of the flight and had to wait until Eli woke up. I had planned on pumping in my seat with a blanket over me as the lights were very low, most of the passengers by us were sleeping, I was by a window, and it was very noisy in the plane.
• On the return flight I did exclusively nurse Eli with a blanket instead of my cover because the blanket was right in front of me. It was a little harder being in the middle seat and being so close to the bathrooms as people kept walking back and forth, but it worked. I never felt uncomfortable or that people were staring at me.

Sound asleep

• Exiting the plane- We waited for everyone else to move past us before we got up. There was no point in rushing when we had so much to take off the plane. The flight attendants were very helpful and didn't rush us off the plane. I held Eli while Chris collected all of our things and we headed for customs. You can see our UK trip here

Waiting for everyone to move so we can get off the plane

All in all, we had a great flight experience. Reading other blogs and being prepared helped us feel more comfortable taking Eli along. I'm sure I will have to research and write another post when we have more children as the dynamics will change.

Eli Goes to the UK

We took Eli to the UK, specifically Norwich, to meet Chris' family and friends. It was a lot of rushing around, but it was worth it for everyone to meet Eli. We stayed in an apartment in the city center, which was very nice and modern. This was a nice way for us to unwind from the busy days and enjoy the city sights and sounds.

These are just some of the highlights of the wonderful people in our lives across the pond

Tash and Eli playing together

Eli looking back at his Nan (Chris' Mom)

We went to Mass as a family at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Norwich

Michelle came down for a day to shop with us

Celebrating Grandma Gilburt's 90th birthday

Visiting history at the Norwich Castle

Enjoying Eaton Park

Eli on his first plane ride

Playing around at Nan's 

Four generations of Wilds... Kate (Chris' sister), Grandad Wild (Sue's father), Sue (Chris' Mom), Chris, (our nephew) Billy, and Eli

Eli and his cousin, Billy

Chris' childhood friend, Bryony, with her little girl born two days after Eli

Chris' childhood friends Bryony and Genna

Eli and his Abuela (Chris' stepmom) and Great-Grandma Gilburt

Carrying Eli on our walk around the lake

Our car for the duration of the trip

Eli hanging out with his Aunt Kate and Billy

Eli, Chris, and Eli's Papa (Chris' dad) playing with the ducks

We went shopping and Eli tried on a few things. I wish we would've bought the hat

Eli talking to his Great-Grandma Gilburt

Eli's Papa taking him for a walk around the lake

Playing on our bed

Eli and his Aunt Kirsty

Eli and his Great-Uncle Michael

Eli and his Great-Aunt Judy

I got to go sailing on the boat with John and Kate

Daddy and Eli picture

Such a perfect picture of Eli playing in an English garden with lawn statues

We are so glad that Eli met everyone with a smile and quickly warmed up to them. He was a fun guy throughout the trip and loved seeing his daddy's country. We hope to take him back again, but may have to wait until we have a few other Gilburts to join us.