My Photographer

Today I got the camera out to take a couple pictures of the boys sitting nicely together and of course as soon as Eli saw me he wanted to hold the camera.  Normally I probably would either help him by holding it with him together or not let him do it at all because the camera was crazy expensive when we got it. Today however, has been one of those do-anything-to-keep-the-kids-happy sort of days so I just handed it over to him. I was actually very surprised at how good some of them are...

Runny nose boy

a close, close up

Mommy, say cheese!

chubby cheeks

my littlest

A Traumatic Morning

When you become a parent your list of fears changes pretty drastically.  Before I had kids I had mostly irrational fears for myself... you know things like aliens (my siblings can attest to this one), psycho murderers coming into my house at night, that chick from The Ring, etc. Now however, my biggest fears are for my children and yesterday morning I was the most scared I have ever been in my entire life.  I was going to type this out last night after the boys went to bed but I was still too emotional that I just couldn't find the energy.  Even now, the next day, I still feel nauseous just thinking about it. I'm probably freaking everyone out so I'll just move right into the story.

Yesterday morning Eli came into my room when he woke up as he usually does and told me that he had to go to the bathroom. Usually he just goes to the bathroom and then comes back into bed to cuddle for a bit and play with the iPad or drags me out of bed to get him some breakfast. After he had been in the bathroom for a bit, Bruce's alarm went off and I asked him to check on him to make sure he wasn't unravelling all the toilet paper or playing with my make up or something.  Bruce immediately came back into the room and told me that Eli wasn't in the bathroom but the front door was open. My stomach dropped and I jumped out of bed to put on a pair of sweats to go outside to look for him.  Bruce was already going up and down our street shouting his name and we couldn't find him anywhere. I called Denise to see if maybe he had gone to her house because she lives so close but he wasn't there. It was at that point that I really started to panic. She offered to jump in her car and help us look, which was amazing considering how early in the morning it was. Bruce jumped into our car so he could do the same because at this point we knew that Eli was not anywhere on our block. We decided that I should stay home in case he came back and Simon was still asleep. I stepped in the house to say the most fervent and panicked prayer I have ever said and then called the police to see if anyone had found him and called in. The officer asked me a couple questions and then put me on hold to talk to another officer that was in our area. I didn't know this but I guess that when they talk to dispatch they keep you on the line so I could hear what was being said between the two of them. I couldn't grasp everything they were saying mostly because they were using the codes that they have but as soon as I heard, "I think I have his mother on the phone", I could have passed out with relief. The officer told me they would send one of the two police cars that were with Eli to wait with me while they brought him.  I immediately called Bruce and as it turned out he had happened upon them while he was driving around the neighbourhood and I was on the phone. So Bruce actually ended up being the one to bring him home. I like to pretend that I was keeping it together until I saw him (even though I was a wreck) but when I saw Bruce pull up and get Eli out of the car seat I became completely unhinged. At this point he had been missing for at least half an hour and once I saw him all I could do was sob.  To be honest it freaked Eli out, I don't think he has ever seen me cry even one tear so it took him a little while before he would even let me hold him.  I calmed down after a few minutes and then he came to sit on my lap in the house and I just held him for a while. I know that there are people who have had so much worse than this experience and people who probably would have dealt with it better and known exactly what to do but personally this was a terrifying experience.

I have to include how the Lord answered my prayer that morning.  Of all the people in the entire neighbourhood that could have found Eli that morning, wandering around in his boots and his pyjamas, it was Bro. Chambers in our ward. I could not believe it when I found out. He was out taking his dog for a walk and Eli approached him because he wanted to pet the dog. Thankfully Bro. Chambers had the presence of mind to call the police when he realized how far Eli was from home (about 3 or 4 blocks) and wasn't sure how to get back to our house. I don't think Bro. Chambers even realized at the time that it was our son. I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father was watching over my little boy that morning. As much as I will never forget the fear I felt, I will also remember the love that I felt both from and for my Heavenly Father while I held Eli on my lap. What would I do without my goofy Eli? I certainly never want to find out.

And The Award Goes To...

I'm pretty sure that I have mentioned this before but Eli has this wonderful ability to make some pretty fantastic faces.  He has some great originals but recently I caught just a couple of impersonations on camera and had to share them. I must say that they are pretty accurate considering he is not looking at a picture of the expressions he's trying to copy in either case. I put the face he is copying on here too for reference.

He has sprinkles all over his face

Calamity Jane

I wish this one was closer

Johnny Worthington - Monsters University

An Unexpected Surprise

Playing with the new toys!

The other day when we came home after a play date we had a wonderful surprise on our doorstep. It was a package from my Mom and Dad! I knew who it was from without even having to look at the address because it was packaged in a chicken breast box from Costco! Eli was so excited we could not get in the door fast enough to open it. There were all sorts of amazing goodies inside. Eli got a package of planes and I don't think that he has put them down since he opened them. He had a bath with them last night and then had to sleep with them too. Simon even got a couple of little cars that he has been chasing around the house. I have to say that I was probably just as excited as Eli to open it. I love getting stuff in the mail and I knew that my new clutch for my diaper bag would be in there! One million times better than the Ziploc bag that I was using.

Insert plane sounds here

Sharing the helicopter

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

Here are just a couple of antics that the boys have been into lately. Eli made a new "decoration" for our kitchen table which consisted of him pulling out every single one of our utensils and arranging them. I am trying to be less OCD so I let him do it and he was very proud of the finished product. I think my favourite addition was the potato masher bridge from the table to the chair. 

Tada!

As I was trying to get the laundry done the other day (a task that is nearly impossible when all both the kids want to do is roll in the big piles of clothes) I decided that the boys needed a distraction. Lo and behold it was right in front of me... Laundry baskets! I was able to get every single item folded, including the socks, in record time. Brother bonding time is awesome.

Eli took this picture... can you believe it?!

Wow Mom, thanks for the great toys!

Another Month Gone

The last little while has not been especially eventful for the Chenuz family but it still feels chaotic as always.  We are still looking for a place to rent in Langley for the end of April but I'm not feeling too stressed about the whole thing. Although, I think I probably should start feeling some urgency pretty soon here. Bah! All the packing that will have to get done with two kids! Maybe I spoke too soon. Oh well, a problem for another day.
We had another really big dump of snow but I can't complain too much because most of it has melted away and it gives Eli something new and exciting to do.  The other day he was outside with one of those lettuce knives (it wasn't sharp so don't judge me quite yet) and he was just sawing at the snow singing that "Frozen Heart" song. Anyone with kids will know what song I am talking about... the Frozen soundtrack is playing pretty much 24/7 at our house. I can safely say that is Eli's favourite movie right now followed closely, and surprisingly, by Calamity Jane. He watched it a little while ago and couldn't believe that there were real people dancing and singing! He asks me to sing the "whip crack away" song all the time and tries to follow all the actions with Doris Day. But just when I think he loves it for all the fun and dancing he tells me that Calamity Jane is his favourite lady because she "shoots her gun". Tonight he also sat through an entire episode of Bewitched with us. Maybe he just likes that older stuff because it's something he hasn't seen before. In any case he continues to be the quirky kid that I love.

He got into my lipstick while I was in the shower.
I was amazed at how accurately it was applied.

This is what happens when he opens the camera app on my phone...

Simon remains the cutest baby on the planet. He is still scooting around and trying to follow Eli everywhere. Lately he has starting squawking at me whenever I leave the room and he can't see me anymore. It's so much fun to watch his little personality develop and notice the differences between him and Eli. While I am very excited to see him grow I am also very content with the little ball of chubb that is my baby Simon.

Mom, would you just stop.

After a bath

I got a few pretty good pictures in the last little while, including some of Eli and Simon's best buddies: Liam and Grey. (I apologize if that punctuation is incorrect and it offends anyone. If I knew any better I know it would offend me!) Anyhow, they always have a ton of fun when they get together and when they start to dress up in costumes that's when you grab your camera.

Look at our muscles!

Whoa! Look at your muscles!

An Iron Man face off

Cute in stripes

And now just a couple more for good measure. I know the first one is a little blurry but every time I see it I laugh. Eli looks like he is drunk on chocolate milk.

I think he's had one too many

Just perfect

7 Months Old

Well Simon is now seven months old and I cannot believe that he is now closer to being one than a newborn. When did that happen? He is officially sitting up by himself and crawling around the house like a mad man. It has been a ton of fun but yesterday we had our first very sad situation. Poor little Simon fell off of the bed and now has a bruise right on his cheek. I'm still just swimming in guilt and letting my fingers get all pruney (Meg Ryan anyone?)

All by himself

Eli goes back and forth between loving that Simon can crawl around to hating it. Obviously Simon can now get at Eli's toys and I feel like I'm constantly monitoring Eli and saying "share" with my eyebrows raised about every 5 minutes. Slowly but surely however, we are getting the hang of this whole little brother thing. In fact Eli asked me yesterday if we could go to the store to buy another baby. The answer was a definitive "No!"
Generally, I consider myself to be a very lucky mommy though because they are the best of friends. While it takes me ages to get Simon to laugh at me all that Eli has to do is look at him and suddenly Simon won't stop giggling. Eli can't wait for Simon to get up in the morning and always says "Hey sweet boy" whenever Simon wakes up from his naps. They are both too cute. Can you tell Eli and I are getting along better lately?
I have been taking quite a few pictures of them playing lately so here it goes!

What a weirdo

I lined up the chairs the other day so that Eli could have a little train. We made tickets to places like Gotham City and Metropolis but every time Eli would go to Grandma's house.

All the passengers

All aboard the train

Eli's face when I take pictures of Simon instead of him

No idea where this suave face comes from 

Holding hands 

"Help me, Simon!"

Best buds

Always having fun

My friend, Denise, was nice enough to throw an awesome Valentine's Day party for some of the kids in the ward. They got to decorate some sugar cookies with strawberry icing and they were delicious! She had the same party last year but all the moms had way more fun this time because the kids actually behaved! Parties are for moms too! Granted they were all a year older and so much more cooperative.

Eli's creations

Decorating

Long Winded

And suddenly it's February. I can hardly believe it. From here on out the months are only going to get busier.  I feel like all I am doing right now is looking 3-6 months in the future and it is making it very difficult to enjoy what is going on right now. Our landlords recently let us know that they are going to try to sell the house this summer so we are starting to look in Langley for a new home.  So far we haven't found anything spectacular but these things always tend to be a little stale in the winter so I'm hoping it'll pick up in the next couple of weeks. I am definitely looking forward to the move. I cannot wait to get closer to Bruce's work. The commute is getting very old and I will be able to have the car during the day! I won't even know what to do with myself! It will also be fantastic to have a little more square footage and possibly ceilings that are higher than 6 feet. The biggest downside will be leaving the friends that we have made. We have been so close to the Gasser family, and the boys and I see them at least once a week. It will be hard not to see them as often but I console myself with the fact that it isn't too, too far and we can still plan play dates it will just be less frequently.

All the boys

Best buddies

Oh, an additional requirement to the new place would be screens or child locks on the windows. All of the windows in our place right now are low enough that Eli can crawl right out of them and they don't have screens or any sort of lock. The other day I put him in a time out and it got very quiet in his room. I went inside and noticed the window was open (apparently he can now open by himself) and immediately grabbed Simon and started running around the block screaming his name. I eventually found him in someone's yard because I could hear him laughing! He was laughing! I love my son very much but there are times when I don't really like the little bugger. I got him out of the yard but ended up having to go back about half an hour later because he remembered that he had left some cars in the yard. Aaah. Super embarrassing. I suppose now I should add in a nice story so I don't sound like a hateful mother. Today we went to the park and Eli noticed that I was wearing my leather gloves. When he asked if he could wear them I thought it was just because he thought they looked cool but he immediately started singing "Let It Go" from that new Disney movie Frozen. Then he started tossing the gloves in the air like she does in the song. He is a character.

I could just eat those wrists

Sunshine!

Bruce is starting to get much busier at work now that the days are starting to get a bit sunnier which is nice. He also has Valentine's Day coming up and that is one of the busiest days of the year so he is getting very excited for the slow season to end. Now that we know that we are moving, I have also been trying to find a pre-school for Eli. What? In February? Yes! Apparently most places start registration in January and tons are already full.  Nuts! I'm not worried about Eli enjoying himself in pre-school because he loves his little weekly class so much! Whenever we wake up in the morning and I ask him what he wants to do that day he almost always says "school". I'm really just hoping to find one that gives them a little bit of outdoor or gym playtime because he really needs to be active.

I love that you can tell
that he is still smiling

Hooray for school

Our little Simon continues to get bigger and bigger. He is almost sitting up by himself... he can last about 30 to a minute and then finds something else that interests him and plops back down on his belly. He is also scooting around the house like a pro. Gone are the days when I could put him in one spot and be sure he would be there when I got back. Now I'm lucky if he is in the same room. Truly, he is the happiest little baby in the world and I just adore him more and more everyday. What a blessing my sons are! I gripe a ton but they are my life.

He had to have me take a picture of the
carrot-hats he made for his cars

Give me that apple!

Sorry this is such a long post! If you survived until the end... Congratulations! You get a picture of my family.

 My beautiful family (and Eli's turtle face)