Few pics and Eli can say please!

So like i promised, few updates!  Don't worry, I won't be that consistent. LOL

We spent Saturday as a family day together and it was nice.  The weather was beautiful we ate at the good ole Mc Do's and played in the park.  What a wonderful day.  I wis every day was like this...

Look at Eli, chillin after eating.  Full belly for sure!

The mens drinkin their sprites

Me and the hubs on this wonderful day

The E man got 'new' hand-me-down clothes from a wonderful friend here.  I think this is as new as Eli's clothes will ever get. Sorry dude!  But aren't they stinkin cute?  I love it.  And they are a little big so he can grow into them. 

Then we have Eli here who has finally learned how to say please and all done.  Although he very specifically says it only when he wants to, he will have everyone know, no one makes him do this.  And the sign language for please is tapping your chest, so in case your wondering why I am all excited Eli is hitting my boob, there ya go. 

Enjoy!!  And you're welcome mom! :)

Simmons house is Sick... ugh

For starters, my linked within isn't working and I have no idea why. 

So it all started with the food battle between me and Eli.  I figured out a few days later that he was just not feeling well.  And now, two weeks later, I have what he has and I can understand.  I haven't eaten much either.  Wow, I feel like a bad mom.

Eli and Tae got sick two weeks ago now.  I remember after a Wednesday basketball practice, I knew Tae wasn't gonna make it to school.  He stayed out for a whole week, which is huge for my little social boy.  He loves school.  He missed basketball again today, once again huge.  He loves his basketball too.  Eli is finally eating better.  It was oatmeal, yogurt and applesauce there for a while, but we are most certainly back to grubbin'.  Now I have an awful sore throat that just stinks and Tae has been saying he has had a headache for the last day and a half.  He said tonight that he was going to be better for school tomorrow, we will see.  Maybe just the morning. 

Then there is Eli...  There is a reason God gives you so much love for your kids.  Because sometimes, well, I'm sure you get the picture.  I don't want to ruin it for future moms or moms with perfect kids.  Just know that I thought I had it all together too, with Tae and the first 6 months of Eli's life.  Then I had an awakening.  So Eli is not a good sleeper.  I don't know what to do.  He wakes up in the night, not to play or eat or anything, sometimes he just cries until someone gives him his binkie.  But he doesn't soothe himself very well, so most of the time if we let him cry, he doesn't stop.  And he shares a room with Tae, and while Tae does sleep pretty hard, it has got to bother him.  Heck, it bothers me and I am a room away!

The bummer thing is that I feel like I have tried everything.  Advil, Doliprane, nose stuff, cough stuff, the poor kid is getting drugged up every night before bed.  I went again to the pharmacie last night and they gave me two more things for sleep, both homeopathic, so I thought I would try them too.  He did a little better last night.  But I was still a stinkin' wreck today.  I had to get Lavar and I laid down for three hours. Yes, you read that right, 3 hours.  I don't remember the last time I did that.  I could have gone longer too.

So far tonight I haven't heard him and it is not yet 10.  So I am going to post this and lay-it-down as my husband says.  I am just praying that I can sleep.  That Eli sleeps.  That Tae doesn't get woken up.  With all these sickies in the house, we can't get better when no one is sleeping!  Eli, get the memo!!!!!!!!!!!  But I love you.  But seriously, sleep.  Ugh, I am getting delerious.

Mommy vs Eli

This is my beautiful monster.  Eli John Simmons.  OH MAN.  If I ever thought I was a good mom or better than another mom, I'm sorry.  I will never ever think that again.  Eli, you have set me straight.  The checklist for a good kid is out the window. 

Here is our mealtime.  For some reason, the last few days, Eli has decided that he doesn't want to eat dinner.  I make his baby food and I am not throwing it out because he decided he didn't want to eat it, so wartime it is. 

Little bit of a whine

Now he is a clever monster.  It is tough to get one by him.  He swings his hands in front of his face, trying to swat the spoon out of my hands or away.  I used to get a bite in when he would cry, but now the smarty-pants cries with his mouth closed.  Man.

Before he learned to cry with his mouth closed.  Right when I would slip a bite in his mouth

Now I am a stubborn person and my husband makes me look bad in that department, so we aren't new to this.  And Eli, you have met your match.  Knowing that I am fully aware (well maybe not fully, are we ever really fully?) what kind of personality he has, I am up for the challenge (most nights).  All I know is that mommy has to win. 

And win I did.

A defeated little monster

That is what I call victory.

*DISCLAIMER* 

 I LOVE my son.  Words like monster and sly and stubborn are all endearing words when coming from a mother.  He can be a challenge and still have my heart strings.  Which he does.

Eli and the chalk...

Okay, seriously, this kid is a monster.  He is a little hilarious monster.  We have a few names for him, Pompei (the volcano that caused mass destuction, you can probably see the paralell), petit monstre (little monster), the crier boy (that is Tae's name for him), and I could go on, but I think you get the point.  He is our little weapon of mass destruction and our house can attest to that.  (or maybe I am a bad house manager.... nope, I'm going with Eli) 


Anyway, recently he has found that he enjoys himself a little chalk from Tae's chalk board.  I haven't tried it myself, but he must think it tastes good.  He just loves to sit there are knaw (sp?) on it.  He thinks he is sly too, like no one knows what he is doing standing by the chalk board 'just chillin.'  He puts his hands in the tray and pushes everything around.  He'll grab a marker, just to try to throw us off.  And then he decides it's a good time, he just goes for it.  'Eli, no! Touch pas, Eli!'  He just looks smiles a bit, bounces up and down and tries again.  "Eli, no!  No Eli!'  Then Tae comes to 'help' and moves Eli away from the board.  Eli kicks his feet as he is being dragged away by his big brother.  But, to no avail, he just crawls right back over to the board to try again.  When he has finally, successfully put the chalk in his mouth, he gives it a good crunch and then he is caught.  Someone takes it from him and this does not make him happy.  He lets us know it but throwing a little temper tantrum (I thought he was too young for that?)  and then trying again.  He is a battle because he is stubborn. Maybe like some other people in our family, can't name names (Grammy Sherrie, Poppy, Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Johnny)  Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us.  But he is cute.  Super duper cute.  And I think he might be aware of that. 



And here are some pictures of the wonderful faces of Eli.  Gotta love 'em!

What Mom?

Crazy Boy!

I'm not touching anything...

Look at those cheeks!

Silly boy!

I'm Back!

D'accord, it has been too long!  At the beginning of December Eli, our lovely little Eli, pulled the cord of our computer and it tugged the computer off the counter it was on.  It wasn't that big of a tug, but it certainly messed up the computer.  We lost everything.  No pictures, no videos or anything we had before.  Serious bummer.  Most of our pictures are somewhere online or on my mom's computer, so not so bad, but still a bummer because I am sure we are missing some things.  I haven't really surveyed all the damages yet.  Not sure I want to...  Anyway, now that I am back, I have a lot of pictures to post!  First I will start with some randomness.  And I am not going to do it all in one day, (sorry mom!) but there are too many.

Our little Randy! (get it, Christmas Story)

My boys

He is very smart. Already reading!

Mom!

Look at that face!

Love that smile!

funny boy

me and my boys

handsome little boogers

 

Brothers

I was cooking and looked over to see this... so sweet

Eli looks a little worried...

Aren't they cute!

{I know the Grandparents won't argue with that!!}

Please Eli, pretty, pretty PLEASE!!

Okay Ladies this is serious.  My cute little 7 month old booger WILL NOT sleep.  I am at a loss.  My first son was/is an excellent sleeper.  In fact, he is such a good sleeper that we are having the opposite problem with him, trying to get him to wake up to go to the bathroom in the night.  Eli on the other hand is ridiculous. He wakes up at least twice a night and then in the morning at around 6:30 or 7:00.  I know some kids just do that, but the thing is, I know he is tired.  I know he needs to sleep more.  I just don't know how to get him to do it. 

I have always been a fan of scheduling babies.  It worked for me and it worked for a lot of other mothers I know.  It helps them sleep and frees you up a lot.  However, I do understand it doesn't fit every parenting type, and people should do what works for them.  All that to say I started with Eli from week 2 or 3 and he was excellent.  Slept through the night at 8 weeks old, totally on his own.  After that, NO problem with him.  Then we moved to France.  It took him two nights to sleep through the night again.  It was excellent.  After that, he was fine.  Then a month or so later, he started having problems.  He just wakes up in the middle of the night or very early morning.  And now to add to that, he now will not take good naps.  Like literally an hour total per day.  Which I know is not enough. 

So I am ruling out time change and adjusting.  We have been here too long.  I am ruling out light sleeper, because serisouly, no one else ever wakes up until he is crying!  I haven't entirely ruled out teething.  He isn't drooling a ton like Tae did and he still has no teeth.  He is always biting his gums.  I got some gel to rub on his teeth and some French non-medical calmer thing and I am just not sure it helps.  Poor little guy.  Poor Daddy, poor Mommy!  I would say poor brother, but I am pretty sure he sleeps through most of it!!

I would love any suggestions any other parents have for teething or sleeping or both.  I don't want to get in the habit of rocking him back to sleep or have him get used to things that aren't possible to keep up.  I just want him to SLEEP!!  Looking forward to comments!!

Eli's Crawling! Or scooting, or whatever you would call this...

Eli is crawling!!! Sort of.


I am going to take more video of him crawling from above so you can see how he does it.  It is like a froggy hop-scoot.  It is cute and funny.  Enjoy!

Karaoke Night!

So the other night was family night in the Simmons house. Basically mommy had been trapped in the house all day and decided we needed a break. So we went out to get some pizza and drove around town for a bit waiting for it to be done. Then when we got back home, that is where the fun began... Karaoke!! (Tae loves it and yet, Lavar did get into it. You'll see.)

Told you! :)

DJ Daddy

So handsome

Even Eli chimed in!  (not really)

Tae is a natural star!  haha

yep, had to get on the chair. (might have been mommy's suggestion...)

And I take the pictures.  So no pictures of mommy being silly or hitting Mariah Carey high notes.  Lavar sang to Celine Dion and Bob Marley, Tae sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow, a house favorite, and mommy sang Killing Me Softly.  We all sang eachother's songs too.  Overall, it was a fun night!  I love my family!

After a crazy and long weekend, things settled back into a relatively normal schedule.  Tae went back to school on Thursday and I went back to going to bed early and getting up early.  I like life with a schedule though, I am a little bit of a control freak.  We got a package from Momma!  Thank you thank you, Mom!  We love packages, but this one had something special in it.  A Camera!!  So I have pictures!!  I guess it was in her best interest to make sure I had a camera, so she could have pictures of her grandbabies.  Here is the first picture I took.  This is how Lavar feeds Eli... And yes, Eli is wearing his Bruins shirt.  Represent!



Look at those chunky legs!  (Eli's, not Lavar! haha)



Lavar had another home game on Saturday.  They lost.  Again.  Ugh it has been a rough last couple of games and Lavar is playing well, but his team needs to actually win.  It is a whole new ball game when the game is your job. I mean when he lost in college, it was like 'Ya, that's a bummer.  Okay, let's go out!"  Now it's like "Oh man, how were your stats?  What is the team's rank?  We have got to win the next one to be here.  How will this affect his contract next year."  I don't particularly like it, but Var is living the dream.  So you live it Baby!!   



Tae and his best (and only) friend, Etienne.  They listen to the huddles during the guys timeouts.



Um, so cute.

I can't stop taking pictures of him!

Those lips and cheeks!  Funny boy!

By the way, little side not.  I have to give Tae a lot more credit.  The kid is smart.  His French is improving.  He is already counting to 7, can say 'hello' 'goodbye' 'thank you' 'you're welcome' 'my name is Tae' 'mouth' 'book' and many more.  He picks up French words when people say them, sometimes.  He is doing really well.  I think it will happen faster than I will even know.  He just can't be taught French.  (Because that would mean that he doesn't know something.  Oh no, that could not be true!) 

As for me, my little French update.  After church yesterday, we were eating lunch at the missionary's house.  There was another couple there who are getting married this coming summer.  They are both French.  She offered to tutor me, but only if we speak entirely in French.  Super! That got me so excited.  Then there was another friend I met, also at church, who is an American studying at the university.  She suggested that I take a grammer course at the college.  I have never actually taken a French class, so I would LOVE to.  So Lavar and I talked about it and we are going to make it happen!!  It is every morning for 3 hours and I don'tt hink I have do that, but maybe 3 days a week.  That is what we are shooting for.  Nothing is set in stone for that, but in the works.  So I am excited and hopefully this will help me make some progress!! LOVE IT!! 

Batman, Superman, Baby Monster, and WonderWear

So Tae and Lavar have been watching a lot of The Justice League.  Like the oldies, cartoon kind.  It is hilarious because every time Tae watches it, he loves it, he has to have his cape on and he has to be called Batman.  "Mommy, I'm not Tae, I'm Batman!"  "You're right, Batman, sorry.  Now did you wipe your bottom, Batman?"  You've probably guessed the other names.  Lavar is obviously Baby Monster... haha just kidding.  Lavar chose Superman.  One time, a while ago, I asked him who his favorite super hero was, thinking that he would have to think about it.  Nope.  In less than a second he responds "Superman, duh!  The only thing that can stop him is kryptonite!"  Oh, so you've thought about this before... Eli is the Baby Monster because he tries to destroy everything in his reach.  He is mainly the bad guy for now.  And I am, you guessed it, Wonder Wear!!  Supposed to be Wonder Woman, but Tae can't remember the name... Bummer what he can remember though, Wonder Wear?  Really? 

So today Eli is laying on the couch and Tae- I mean Batman - was playing with Baby Monster on the bed.  Well Batman is not allowed to touch Baby Monster's face, for obvious reasons, so he looks at him and says "Uh-oh, Baby Monster has a booger!  That's okay, Wonder Wear can get it!"  Yes!  Wonder Wear to the rescue!  Get that booger Wonder Wear!!  I love my life...

Tae on French and School

Tae is a funny little blend of complete confidence and total insecurity. I suppose we all are to some extent. Before actually moving here, I was really nervous about how Tae would react to the different environment, different language and culture. Especially without his friends, cousins, and Grammy and Poppy. But as most people have told me, kids are resilient. Aside from saying only a couple times that he wants to go home to his other house where he has a lightening McQueen bed, he has been a complete trouper. Even with us dragging all over the country. (Of course, during that time he was being spoiled by one aunt or another.)

We arrived on a Tuesday and went to visit the school I think on Thursday that week. Just to see about it and talk to the head mistress. She was really nice and the president of the club was nice enough to come with us and take care of some of the insurance items. Thankfully, I can't tell you how thankfully, Aunt Donna was there and came with us. I understand bits and pieces and sometimes can put it together. But on occasion I understand bits and pieces and then put them together wrong and I was just listening to a totally different conversation! So Aunt Donna was so helpful to make sure I was understanding everything. This was kinda an important subject. I immediately liked the school. It is very organized. They are teaching cursive to 4 year olds! They even have little pottys for the kids. I was excited for Tae.

Tuesday the next week, after our long road trip, was his first day of school. I cannot tell you how proud of him I was. Armed with 3 aunts, mommy, daddy, and brother by his side we set off to school.  Tae walked up there with us acting like he owned the world.  Then he got to the door, after taking off his sweatshirt and getting ready for class, he stepped in and hid behind mommy.  He was hugging my leg and did not want to go in there.  I am so thankful I have such a strong husband who believes in raising a man not a puny little boy, he took Tae aside and in his loving yet stern way told him to man up.  haha Just kidding!  But if you know Lavar, that isn't that far fetched.  But he did great, Lavar gave him a talking to, basically be tough, mommy and daddy are always here, make new friends etc etc.  I didn't really listen because this was 'man' time.  Whatever he said worked because Tae turned around found a table to sit down at and started playing.  That's my boy!

So here is the drill.  We wake up the boys at 7:30.  I get Tae in his boxers and tank top and send him upstairs for breakfast.  I get Eli out of bed and changed.  As Tae is eating I make and feed Eli a bottle.  We go downstairs and brush Tae's teeth, mouth wash, and wash his face.  Next is lotion.  After he is lathered up we head to the room for clothes.  Once he is dressed we load up the layers, because let's face it, we are Californian/Bahamian people living in France.  It is cold  here and it is only October.  I am in for it... Anyway, then we put Eli in the stroller, bundle him up and head out the door at about 8:15.  It is about a 10 minute walk to school.  It is crisp and refreshing and gets us out of the house.  We arrive at school around 8:25, perfect.  On Monday and Tuesday his teacher doesn't speak any English.  On Wednesday there is no school and on Thursday and Friday the teacher speaks English, so she can help Tae (and me).  Eli and I head home and I feed him some solid food and lay him down for a nap. Aahhh, then it is my time.  Two hours of everyone gone or sleeping, I love it!

So here are some funny things we have experienced so far.  First of all, this is Tae's super confident side.  "Tae, guess what!  You get to learn French!"  Tae: "But mommy, I already speak French."  Me: "Really?  Well that is convenient.  Let me hear some French."  Tae: "I don't feel like it right now."  Nice.  And lately, since we have been around it more he basically thinks it's gibberish.  I told him to bring home 1 French word that he learned and teach it to me so that he can be my teacher.  So he comes home saying he has some words.  Then proceeds to 'speak' French.  It is really just a bunch of gibberish.  Occasionally he saying something like booshay or something like that.  Then I ask what it means and he says "it French, mommy!  Silly Mommy!"  Of course it's French!  Silly mommy. 

Here is the funniest one yet.  Last week I got a note from the school saying that today, Friday the 15th, it is going to be 'bring your favorite toy to school' day.  You're thinking, 'cool, sounds fun.'  Here is the kicker.  They have a word for 'favorite toy' in French.  And it is doudou. Yep, say it outloud.  Doudou.  Well, Tae speaks English and where he comes from (and also being a boy) doudou is a funny word.  This should be interesting...  When I told him I decided to be all nonchalant about it.  So I am talking him through it with "And then, guess what!  On Friday you get to bring your doudou to school!  A doudou in French..."  It's too late.  I lost him.  He is already cracking up at the word.  Great.  So I let it go.  Then yesterday I was picking him up from school and one of the mom's was walking away with her kids.  I don't know what she was saying but doudou was in the sentence.  Tae looks up and me and says "Ha, she said doudou! haha  Did you hear that mommy?  She said doudou."  I tried to play it off, but I suppose this is one of those cultural differences that we will have to get used too...  Funny kid. 

Real quick, another one of those cultural differences.  The way you pronounce Tae in English, like how we say his name is the exact way you say tea in French.  So basically, in France, we named our kid Tea.  Like a cup of tea.  Lovely.  So every time I introduce him I have to explain, 'comme le boisson' (like the drink).  People look at us like we are crazy.  But I suppose I would too.  It is like we are trying to be super trendy or something, like Gweneth Paltrow naming her kid Apple or Gwen Stefani and Zuma.  We are just that cool...  Oh well, you try to think of everythin when they are born, but who would have thought of this? 

Well that is all the stories I have for now.  I am sure  there will be more to come with all the things that we have to go through.  But, Tae is doing great in school.  We are sooooo proud of him.  He is a tough little cookie and Lord willing, he will grow to be a tough man.  We love him so much and I can't wait until he starts speaking better French, so he can teach me!!

Tae's new watch & Eli's first baby food!

This hair band was his 'timer' before we bought the watch. So cute he would look at it and say "it's time to go"

Wow, we have a lot of firsts today!  Well just two, one each kid.  We'll start with Tae.  It is so crazy watching your kids get older right in front of your eyes.  Tae watches people and notices things that 3 year olds just don't pick up.  Very observant.  Well Daddy wears a watch.  Poppy wears a watch.  Why shouldn't Tae have a watch?  He started asking Daddy for a watch a little while ago.  Well we don't really buy our kids things other than necessities outside of Christmas and birthdays, so naturally we said "at Christmas, Daddy will get you a watch."  Tae was kinda okay with that but still proceeded to ask about a watch every day.  Well then just the other day Lavar found got a contract and found out that he would be leaving for France within the next couple days.  We were at Target running errands and I saw Spiderman watches.  I mean we had to.  I showed Var and he just held up the basket.  I was little surprised, I thought it would take a little more coaxing than that, but Daddy is a sucker for his little man wanting to be just like him.  We bought it.  When Lavar got it out of the bag to give to him Tae said "Whoa.  That is so cool.  I don't need this anymore."  He proceeded to take off the hair tie that he was keeping around his wrist as his makeshift 'timer' until Christmas.  It was so cute.  I made him put it back on because I wanted to get a picture and he was not happy about that!  Here are some pics of our watch opening.

Daddy trying to figure the watch out

Tae climbed on the counter and couldn't wait

Daddy putting it on

Tae showing Poppy.  Notice the Spiderman swim trunks.

Tae showing Eli.  Eli is very excited about it.

Onto our next first of the night.  Eli had rice cereal for the first time!  Some might think it is a little early, and it is, but people don't normally have kids that are as big as mine.  Eli was 16 pounds at 2 months.  I mean this kid is solid.  Not even really fat and chunky, just solid.  I started Tae at 10 1/2 weeks.  Eli was doing fine and I am in no hurry so I didn't think about it.  Then recently within the last week he has been crankier and getting hungrier than usual.  He actually woke up once in the middle of the night and he hasn't done that since 8 weeks.  So I thought it was time.  I wanted to give it a try and see how he did with it.  Well as my kids usually do with food, he did great.

   

He was so happy!  At first he didn't really understand, but once he started getting the hang of it he loved it!  He was getting a little anxious in between bites.  He ate that whole bowl.  Yep, I have big kids.

enjoying his baby food!

WOW, I mean really!

Look at that boy! So handsome!

❤LOVE❤ this picture. What a face!

And then there is my crazy 3 year old... Crazy, but I love him!