July Happenings

Today I went out in the backyard and took some videos of Elliot thinking that maybe I'd make a cute little montage at some point. THEN GOOGLE DID IT FOR ME. 

Speaking of Google Photos, I got a job! I'm writing articles for a website called tech-recipes.com. They are short tutorials on tech topics. I'll write 3 a week and can work on them whenever I want. I'm excited about it!

But not as excited as Elliot is when I go get him after he wakes up from a nap:

YOU CAME!!

 Elliot is rolling all over the place these days. Still no signs of crawling and it seems to be mostly accidental if he ends up somewhere. He's starting to be able to aim himself in a general direction. 

Scooted on over to say hi to me

He started out on top of this blanket

got himself into the corner

Captivated by the vacuum cleaner

Playing with furry friends at Melony's house

Good doggie

Monsoon season is upon us! The tree in our front yard got knocked over by the wind and we have been doctoring it ever since. It's a work in progress. 

It fell even further to the right- it was pretty close to level with the ground

On the upside, monsoon season has the absolute best sunsets!

Our street

Aaaaaaand More Beach Pictures

I made the mistake of writing all the beach posts before waiting for the family photographer to send out her pictures. Here's some awesome pictures taken by the awesomer Megan Blood!

"Why hello, Ladies"

This is why Aaron is Catherine's favorite uncle

Also I hear he has funny jokes

Cute

Look! He can stand!
(Not too hard when someone is supporting all your weight and your feet are buried in the sand)

Munching on a seashell

Elliot making his scrunchy face at Jonny

Playing with the hilarious goggles

Eowyn jumping the waves

Matching swimsuits with Elizabeth

What a great group of sandy cousins

Digging for clams

Eowyn & Elliot checking each other out

Skim boarders Stephen & Aaron

Aaron always opens his mouth before jumping. Or throwing. Or catching. It's cute :)

There must have been something super interesting on TV

Me and Seth

The non-stop thumb sucker

The Blood Clan

Elliot Stats and a Shirtless Baby

We had Elliot's 6 month check up after we got back. Here's the stats. 

(Don't worry, I adjusted for the extra half month or so in age to get the percentiles)

(Because I know everyone's primary concern here is accurate data)

Weight 16 lb 13 oz (27%)

Length 27.5" (71%)

Head 17.25" (52%)

Cuteness 1,000,000 (100%)

Elliot has mastered sitting up and is a pretty talented roller, but he hasn't shown any signs of trying to crawl. No teeth yet either. I'm not in a rush for either of those things, so that's ok! He has a lot to say all the time now, and I love having babble conversations with my little buddy.

We've been having fun slipping him more and more foods and see him go to town on them. He really likes cheerios, but usually ends up clenching them in his fist while he sucks his thumb and then rubbing them into his clothes. He hasn't turned his nose up at anything since his first encounter with sweetened applesauce. I'm still primarily nursing him.

Desperate lunge for more food

Banana mush beard

Banana mush beards are best when they are immediately followed by baths. This is my favorite strategy for feeding him mushy things- less laundry this way.

He rotated all the way around to face the in-tub entertainment center (aka faucet)

A Few More Days in McLean

We had a couple more days in McLean after the beach before flying home. 

On the first day, we ventured to DC to check out the Library of Congress. I had somehow never been there before despite living in the area my whole childhood. It was way beautiful! We also checked out the Supreme Court building just because we happened to fine parking right next to it. I had never been there either. 

Strollin' around DC

The capitol building is in the background. The dome has been under renovation for a few years now.

 I didn't take any pictures inside any of the DC buildings because I was taking videos for a movie that Breezy has been assigned to make. We'll see if that ends up happening :)

The next day Clint, Aaron and I ditched Elliot to check out Difficult Run Trail. I've been wanting to take Aaron here for a long time because it was one of my favorite hang out spots back in the day. We had some great philosophical discussions along the way. 

Me and my broski by the Potomac River

Me and that guy I'm in love with by the Potomac River

The next picture is Aaron standing at the entrance to the water cave. You turn sideways and go down and to the left until you are standing up to your knees in water. It is super dark unless you bring a waterproof flashlight. Then you turn and duck under a low hanging rock and you find yourself in a small cave behind a little waterfall! I spent a significant portion of the summer of 2011 swimming around here. We didn't wear our swimsuits so we didn't go in. 

Aaron at the cave entrance

I love this picture of Clint!

What a good looking rock formation
Aaron is ok too I guess

Breezy and Mom had the genius idea of drawing eyeliner eyebrows on Elliot.

Elliot didn't love the application 

But the results were pretty hilarious

Elliot enjoyed watching us play and trying to Acquire as many cards as he could get his hands/mouth on

I think that the best part of this trip was seeing my siblings be uncles/an aunt for the first time- they hadn't met him in person yet. They were all so good at getting him to laugh, although I didn't get any volunteers to help change diapers... 

4th of July

Most of the Bloods were leaving on the 4th to drive/fly home, so the night before we light some sparklers for the kids. 

Megan lights some sparklers for Brianna and Jacob... well, not sure what Jacob was doing

On the actual 4th, we polished off all the assorted leftovers we could scrounge up. A group of us went down to the fishing pier to watch the fireworks. It was a great spot- we could see them way far down the beach in both directions. Also, some guy caught a baby shark while we were there. I secretly wanted to ask to touch it but chickened out before he tossed it back in the ocean. 

Aaron takes a picture. It was CRAZY windy

Jacob takes a picture. It was still windy.

Brianna was super duper tired and less than enthusiastic about the fireworks, so we didn't stay for very long. 

Hanging out at Holden

The Bloods rented 3 beach houses- both sides of a duplex on the second row from the beach and a house a few miles inland. The Johnsons rented a house around the corner.

View from the front porch of the duplex facing the ocean

This sums things up pretty well: A cute baby, an upside down kid, someone coming in/out the door, and another kid for good measure

Cousins on a fridge

It was a recurring activity throughout the week

Andrew helping Timmy take a nap

Super helpful

Grandma Blood introducing Elliot to baby Katie. They are just a month apart but Elliot's head is SO much bigger! (well, all of him was bigger, but seriously, look at those heads!)

1. It looks like Elizabeth has Aaron's hairy leg
2. Avery's face
3. Eowyn's face

Eowyn, Princess of Rohan, and her loyal friend Olaf the Snowman

Timbits wearing Elliot's hat

I gave Elliot a little piece of watermelon and he was mildly interested in it until he saw what Grandpa Johnson was eating. He made a wild lunge and commandeered a big slice and there was no going back. He was SO intense about eating that watermelon! He had a death grip on that piece of fruit. 

He was drenched but very pleased with himself after this.  

One of the many pictures of himself that Blake has left on my phone throughout the years

My creepy brothers

The best glasses

 Other activities that were not pictured:

Running into the one and only Kathleen Capitano at the local church

Jacob's hit and run ice cream sandwich runs

Muchos board games

Jonny taking over an hour to complete the Hogwart's Sorting Hat Quiz

Aaron watching Walking Dead with Stephen and Claudia