And while I have a connection

I'll post some more pictures while I'm getting internet service. Grandpa here's those Nike's you bought him. They fit him good and he thought they were fun to play with.






































What daddy's are for, letting him play drive the car :)

So here are some pictures

So for some reason the Internet that we "barrow" isn't powerful enough for me to load pictures on here! Someone needs to tell one of my neighbors to get stronger Internet connection so our wi fi can pick it up! Anyways, I did manage to take just a couple of pictures at the home coming. I was alittle pre-occupied, and wish I would have taken more or had someone take a family pic of us. I guess we will just have our memories!

Eli waiting in the passenger terminal in his pj's at about 10pm















There's the plane!!! The guys are starting to come down the stairs.















If you can even see this picture, Eric is right in the center with a blue pillow under his arm.















He was sooo happy to see us.




















Daddy's boy right away, I think he even gave him a kiss that night.

Eric is home!!!

Ok, sorry for not posting sooner. Eli and I flew in on Saturday and we stayed the night in Nashville at a hotel. Sunday morning our wonderful friends the Bagge's picked us up to drive us home to Clarksville. That was drama finding a ride home, brilliant me, forgot I booked our flight over Memorial day weekend and so NONE of our friends were in town to pick us up. On top of that there was no shuttle service and the rental car place was out of cars! But, luckily I did think of the Bagge's at the last minute. We got to the house expecting it to be covered in dust and full of sewer rats (thank you Alan Clother) only to find my wonderful friend Paige had come by a few days earlier to straighten up, change the sheets and give us a few groceries. So, very sweet. One worry down, next one to deal with... the car. So the car was completely DEAD, I had to call a tow truck to come and pick up Eli and I to take us to get a new battery. Just so you know baby seats don't fit so well in semi trucks!! I had to hold it on my lap the whole way because he couldn't change gears with the seat in the way. Ok, so the car is running, new problem... Eli has been sucking on my phone as a toy during this whole ordeal, so now it won't work! And this is my ONLY means of communication- we have no computer, all I have is my phone to cling to in hopes that Eric will call me. So I go to Walmart and LUCKILY- no THANK THE LORD, we are eligible for a free phone.
Ok, so drama aside we got home and start waiting. All day Sunday we wait, all day Monday we wait. Then Monday night I get a call from Eric that they will get in on Wednesday night! So all day Tuesday I wait. At about 6pm I was over at a friends and thought about checking my e-mail to get there flight info and the arrival date is for that day! Tuesday! In like 3 hours! I was so overwhelmed, I made my friend read the email for me. He was coming in a day early!!! So we hurried home and got ready and headed out to the flight line. Its kinda fun there, all the women and children gathered around a fence waiting to see a plane come in. Then in the distance we see the lights of the plane and the crowd starts cheering!!! The guys start there way off the plane and towards the group and everyone in yelling and waving flags and signs to Daddy. It was a very sweet thing to see all these men coming home to there families. Eric was towards the end of the group and it was that strange dream like feeling to actually be with him again. Eli went straight into his arms and of course, I cried. We were able to leave to go home after only a few hours. Eli has been doing wonderful with Eric, and we are having fun together too. wink, wink.

sorry where did I leave off

in uncle marks hat















outside The New Sanno Hotel















in the lobby















was so excited to stand on the chair




















Sorry, I've been distracted and haven't finished posting all of these. Where was I, Oh yes we are to Sunday which was a very very lazy day. We tryed to check back into the military hotel but they had had a prom there the night before and couldn't clean the rooms fast enough to get people in. Long story short I pretty much sat in the lobby til 5pm when we were finally able to go to our rooms. We took some pictures and chilled. Well needed rest.

kabuki style

One of my favorite meals. Our friend Megan has lived over in Japan for 10 years, she married a japanese guy about 2 years ago. They met up with us several times on the trip and help lead us around. Most importantly they took us to eat and ordered for us!!















At the Edo-Tokyo Museum, Its next door to the Sumo Stadium that we missed by a couple days!


































Danielle and I are international disrespectin' fools.

the homeikan

On Saturday we moved from the military resort to a traditional Japanese inn called a Ryoken. This was somewhat of an unknown experience for all of us, but ended up being a very cool time!


The entrance to the Homeikan














where you remove your shoes and put on indoor slippers














me looking hot in a robe- yeah right!




















our room














after taking a nice long bath.

I was in Japan!

Sorry no posts for awile we just got home from Japan yesterday! We left on the 29th for our big family vacation, everyone came except Eric and Jonathan. The flight over there was non-stop 10 hours, which was not to bad. Eli slept on and off. He and I took a day or so to adjust to the 16 hour time change. We got up around 5am everyday- cause we just couldn't switch over completely. Japan reminded me so much of Korea, except it was alot cleaner there. It was neat to be back in a familar place, and to show my family what it was like for a year of my life. We stayed at a military hotel in Tokyo, which was so nice. I'll post daily what we did while we were there, starting off with day 4. We lost a couple days with travel and jet lag!

Our first big outing was a trip to Asakusa area to see the Senso-ji temple and shopping area. It was pretty busy when we were there because it was their holiday- golden week. The Temple had a long row of shops with all sorts of asian nik-naks and gifts and a huge garden area. It was beautiful.

happy birthday daddy

bath time

baby laughs

video

http://allmyish.typepad.com/ (my friend Jen's blog)

a super cute video of Eli and his friend Maisie.

clap clap

I am trying to get a video on here daily for his desperate daddy. You'll be home soon Eric! Then you can play with this fun little monkey and I can take a nap!

silly

eric's boy. eyes half closed for pictures!















goofy and drooling.

go baby go

did you miss us

Well, I had no batteries for my camera so I didn't have way of getting any new pics up. But, all is good now, new batteries, new pictures, new video.

The little monkey has two teeth now and is getting around pretty good. I am soooooo thankful for him being such a great baby. I put him down for naps in the afternoon and he just smiles at me and turns his head to the side to sleep! No fussing AT ALL, everyday I walk out of his room with a huge smile. I love him. I don't know how I got such a great kid.

Eli's flaws: we are still struggling with him maybe being allergic to something, we know milk bothers him, so I cut that completely out of my diet, but now he is getting really bad eczema(sp). I don't know what to do?

*By the way I have been meaning to write this for some time: I am a terrible writer/speller and am completely embarrassed to write long posts on here for fear of humiliation, for those who knew me in high school I failed English, for those who knew me in college, I failed it then also!

eli loves orange

This is eli's new counter chair. He loves being up at my level when I'm cooking and eating. He started some solid foods a couple of weeks ago and is doing great with that. He nurses about 4 times a day with one meal of rice cereal and fruit/veggies at about dinner time. He LOVES sweet potatoes and carrotts- Eric, I think your boy shares your favorite color.

Happy Easter

Some pics taken by my friend Jenica, you can see them at http://lemondropsphotography.blogspot.com/

clapping, squeaking, and a grunt

This was an attempt at getting him to clap his hands, but I ended up getting more than that. It shows his new little "motor boat" noise, high pitched squeak, and in the end him bearing down on a big doo doo. wow- this is what interests me now! I know some people would think, what a boring video, but his daddy lives for these!

on this green day

So, don't call me a crazy tree hugger or anything but lately I have just been convicted that we as Americans need to be more aware of how we live and our impact on the earth. I am not perfect, but I am trying to do my part without making huge changes. I feel like it is our duty to be good stewards of what God has given to us. A friend told me about a bumper sticker she saw "If you love the Creator, take care of his creation" And so I am seeking out little things I can do:

Don't get ATM receipts. If everyone in the United States refused their receipts it would save a roll of paper more than two billion feet long, or enough to circle the earth fifteen times!

Flush your toilet just 1 less time per day, you'll save about 4.5 gallons of water- as much water as the average person in Africa uses for a whole day of drinking, cooking, bathing, and cleaning.

Unplug your power. Ten percent of the electricity used in your home is burned by communication devices and appliances- when they are turned off! If every U.S. household just unplugged its computers and cell phone chargers when they are not being used, collectively we'd save over $100 million- enough to provide free health care to every low-income child under the age of five in the state of California.

Buy bulk. If you buy a 28 oz can of stewed tomatoes instead of two 14.5 oz cans, you'll not only save up to 50 percent on the price, but you'll also reduce waste and conserve resources. If every month each US household substituted a larger can for two smaller ones, the annual savings in steel could build an Eiffel Tower on each of the 6 other continents.

Use a two-in-one shampoo and conditioner instead of buying each separately. You'll not only save money and packaging, but you'll likely save additional time, water and money by reducing the length of your shower. If one in seven U.S. households replaced its shampoo and conditioner purchase with a single 2-in-1 bottle, the amount of plastic saved per year could fill a football field 27 stories high!

Try using cloth vs. disposable diapers. Over the course of eight thousand diaper changes, your baby will generate three thousand fewer pounds of landfill waste. If cloth diapers were used by just an additional 1 percent of parents, the reduction in waste would be as if 14,200 households completely stopped producing garbage for an entire year!

i still live with my parents...and her parents

everything is a-o-k!

yen lui pics

a tooth!

He has his first tooth. I noticed he was drooling alot (which he always does) but I thought, I haven't felt in his mouth lately. So I stuck my finger in and there was a little tooth pooking through! I was surprized I hadn't felt it yet while nursing. So, just thought I'd let you all know.

walking, walking, walking

Eric, heres one for you. Don't worry, he wont be walking anytime soon! You'll probally get to teach him that. We love you and can't wait to see you VERY soon!!! Please forgive my just-rolled-out-of-bed look.