September 20

Whew! We had a busy day today!

First we went to church this morning. I left Eli in the nursery, where there happened to only be two babies this morning. Amazingly, Eli chose to snuggle up with his helper and go to sleep. That's a first for him! It was especially great because it meant that he was in a good mood for our trip to Costco after church. 

At Costco, Chris put Lily in the cart, then asked me if Eli might be ready to ride in the cart, too. At first I told him no, I was happy to wear Eli. But then I thought about it. Daisy is now too big to ride in the cart (her long legs get tangled up when we try to put her in the seat), so Lily would be riding alone in the double cart. So we tried it, with my ring sling as seat padding, just in case.

Eli loved it!

OK, actually at first he was really skeptical. But then Caleb stepped up and grabbed the cart handle, and Eli was suddenly all smiles. He loves his big brother!

And Lily was so, so happy to have her "Ee-yi" right next to her.

At Costco, we ran into my friend Jessica who was picking up a birthday cake for her daughter Stella's party, which we would be attending in just an hour or two. She mentioned that Stella's party was supposed to  be a fiesta, so when we got home from Costco I went digging through a pile of novelty items from my childhood that my mom unloaded on me gave to me last year. Happily, I had already washed them. Even better, I quickly found what I was looking for: one of three matching outfits my sisters and I got on a family trip to Mexico when I was maybe six years old.

It fit Daisy perfectly! 

I think the turquoise one was Jenny's?

After I got Eli down for his nap, I took Caleb and Daisy to Stella's party. Poor Lily was devastated to be left at home, but somehow her little brain decided that she would be going to Stella's party, too, when she woke up from her nap. I felt really guilty leaving her, since she and Stella are technically peers because they will be in the same grade when they start school, but nap time trumps all. Miss Stella hasn't napped for quite a while, but Lily desperately needs her naps!

Caleb and Daisy were clingy and shy at the party, but they enjoyed the birthday cake and the pinata!

Caleb took a couple of really good whacks; I think he would have split that thing open if I hadn't insisted he give another kid a turn!

We headed home to find a very-hungry Eli waiting anxiously for his mama. Chris and the older two played some more baseball in the back yard until Lily woke up from her  nap, and then we all snuggled and rolled around in my big bed until it was time to go to small group. Jessica kindly brought leftover birthday cake to small group, so I made sure Lily got a piece after she'd eaten some dinner. That counts as a party, right?