Elijah at 10 months

Don't know if you can tell or not but there's a piece of a green bean sitting on his nose.

Pulled all his toys out and played under the highchair.

Watching Emily play

An Elijah Update

It seems like our baby has grown into a little boy overnight. He's changed so much this past month. He now has two teeth (on the bottom) and is finally crawling! He had his first haircut (just the back that was starting to hang down on his shoulders). He loves to squeal when he's excited (Emily's an expert at hyping him up) and when he's mad (I'm pretty good at making him mad - taking away things he shouldn't play with and dragging him away from the computer, the oven, and the toilet). And he LOVES bread (takes after his uncle Paul!). He's eating a wide variety of solids now, and he'll only eat baby food if he's the only one eating. If we're eating at the table, he has to eat from our plates - or else the squeals break out, or he just refuses to eat! He's all boy, loves balls and cars and trains (he already makes vroom, vroom sounds while he pushes his cars). He also loves his new puzzle from Santa and he loves books. I can set a basket of books in front of him and he's entertained for quite a while. Until he sees or hears Emily, then he's off to watch what she's up to. We put a gate at her door so she can play with her little toys in her room, and he'll crawl to the gate and sit there and watch her play. Anyway, that fills you in on our youngest a little bit. Wish you could all see him. He's lots of fun. Maybe the videos will give you a small peek into his life as a 10 month old.

These next two videos show what he likes to do while I'm unloading the dishwasher. For some reason he likes the challenge of sliding under the dishwasher door and crawling backwards to get back out. It's very funny to watch (in real life anyway).

The Tolan's Visit

My sister and her family came to visit for several days while her husband, Aaron, interviewed at nearby residency programs. Unfortunately we didn't get to do all we were hoping to because of various illnesses throughout their time here, but we do have a few pictures to share (not in chronological order). It was so much fun having family around for a while. Hopefully the Coulters and the Tolans have set the example and many more of you will come visit us in Ann Arbor!

Hucks/Tolan Christmas morning:

Isaiah and his new CARS car

Emily setting up her new Eric Carle game

We went to a famous tourist attraction called Bronner's Christmas Wonderland. The Christmas store is 1.5 football fields in size and has tons of fun stuff to look at!

Play-dough: a great activity when you can't leave the house

We had their pictures made in their Christmas pj's for their Nonna. This was lunch at McDonalds afterwards - trying not to attract too much attention!

Baby Ania - so adorable! Wish I had more pictures but she was sick a lot of the time, not up to smiling for the camera.

Eating fruit snacks - thanks, Nonna and Poppa, for all of the wonderful gifts! They had a blast opening one each day. Some of their favorites were anything edible, the flashlight, the chewing gum and the little Christmas bags - and the cookies of course!

It wasn't much but there was a little snow to try out. Faith's family missed a foot of snow at their house (in Tennessee) while we got an inch in Michigan - seems like something's wrong with that picture! Here's Emily rolling around in the snow. She loved making snow angels too but I missed that shot somehow.

impressive snowball for a little guy!

Of course Emily spent a good portion of the time eating the snow.

Christmas Cookie Making (thanks, Nonna!)

The conversation of the week:

Isaiah: You're a ham.

Emily: I'm not a ham!

Isaiah: You are a ham!

Emily: I'm not a ham!

Isaiah: Ham, ham, ham! You're a ham!

Emily: Dad, Isaiah says I'm a ham!

George: Emily, you know you're not a ham. And we know you're not a ham.

Isaiah: You're a ham!

They actually did an amazing job getting along for so many days. They had a great time playing together.

Christmas Sunday picture

Our visit to the Christmas Tree Farm

Elijah's first time in his snowsuit. He didn't seem to mind the cold or the suit! Emily had a nice ride through the tree farm. All she could say was "I'm cold." (and that's with layers on!) It's going to be a long winter for our NC girl.

It took us a while to find the "perfect" tree. We realized later they'd precut the prettiest, fullest trees!

Michigan's new Concocor Fir Christmas tree.

George took his job very seriously. ;)

Elijah's front row seat for the tree cutting.

Emily's favorite part: cookies & hot chocolate afterwards

lights on & partially decorated - if they'd only be still for a sec!

Our 1st Thanksgiving in Ann Arbor

I am so thankful that we had extended family that graciously invited us into their home for our first thanksgiving so far from our NC family. My dad's cousin, Mike Haithcock, and his wife Melinda (who live here in Ann Arbor), had all of their family in for thanksgiving, and the kids and I joined them for their thanksgiving meal. It was so great to see everyone again, and I have to say the food was amazing as well! Unfortunately George had to work all day and missed the fun, but we will be glad when Christmas rolls around that he's already worked his holiday shift!

This is Mike and Melinda's graddaughter, Mattie, hanging out with Emily and Elijah.

She is just too cute and we all had a blast getting to know her a little bit.

Emily absolutely loved Mattie and pretended to be her mom. Mattie graciously handled all of the attention really well. (sorry I didn't realize the flash was on in all of these pictures; that and the movement made them all blurry)Elijah in his little "I'm stuffed" shirt. He loved Ms. Melinda's mashed potatoes!

I'm thankful for two precious, healthy children!

The Coulters Visit

George's sister, Amber, and her family came to visit us for a couple of days. We had so much fun hanging out with Amber and Eric and their four children. Emily just loves playing with her cousins, especially Elise, who is only 3 months older than Emily. They are great playmates. The first night they were here, the three big kids had a sleepover with Emily in her room. The second night, Emily was invited to stay in the hotel with their family, which she thought was a most amazing opportunity. It turns out the best part for her (other than getting to sleep with Elise) was getting to eat breakfast on the couch the next morning!

Elijah was very kind to share all of his baby toys and seats ;)

We decided to get in the holiday spirit we'd make and decorate Christmas cookies. Philip insisted we have a contest and Auntie Amber made sure every child (and Eric) had a prize cookie!

You can tell they took their job very seriously.

They had to look good enough to eat!

The girls became expert Hi Ho Cherrio players.

Yes, they pretty much lived in the tinkerbell and cinderella dresses.

Tinkerbell & our baby giraffe

October 31st escapades...

Our trip home

Emily & Elijah got their first experience on an airplane last month when we traveled to NC to see family and friends. They both proved to be excellent travelers. Here are just a few shots of our time in NC.

The $3 princess phone I found in the Wal Mart checkout line proved to be well worth the money, entertaining her for most of the trip home! You just never know...

Hanging out at the pumpkin patch...

We were able to spend several evenings with George's family as well. Emily had a blast playing with her cousins and I loved catching up with all of my sister-in-laws!

our friends James & Ryan...

Saying goodbye to Leah at the airport was not something Emily looked forward to.

If you didn't make the blog I'm sorry, I did a terrible job of taking pictures that week, but I did have a blast seeing everyone! We miss you all terribly!