Eli's Block

My friend Mary's husband, Jordan (one of my good friends from high school) surprised her the other day with a personalized wooden block for their son Brendan that lists all the details of his birth on it. I saw it and thought it was so neat that I ordered one for Eli. Eli's came in yesterday afternoon and I LOVE IT! I told Josh that I plan on ordering one of these for each of our children. What a neat personalized gift for them to have! Here's the link to the website, if you're interested in one for yourself or someone else.

Mr. Fix It

Looks like we may have a Mr. Fix It on our hands! Eli loves to get under his swing and "work" on it. He can stay under there for such a long time just playing with the straps and pushing the swing back and forth. It amazes me how it's the simple things that babies enjoy so much :)

Uncle Clare and Eli-Best Buds

A few weeks ago, Tammy "Mammy" asked if Eli had any overalls because she wanted to do a special photo shoot with him while he was at her house. Her husband, Clare, used to be a sweet potato farmer and they still have lots of farm equipment at their house. Clare really wanted to do a tractor photo shoot with Eli as soon as the weather warmed up enough.

Friday, the weather was perfect, so Eli and Uncle Clare got dressed in their overalls and went outside for their tractor photo shoot. As you can tell, Eli LOVED being outside. It looks like he had so much fun :) Thanks, Mammy, for these great photos! They really made me want to play Kenny Chesney's song, "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" in the background :)

Update

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Eli has been sick and I haven't taken any pictures of my little guy, so I haven't really had anything to blog. He seems to be doing better, so hopefully he's on his way to making a full recovery. Thank goodness it was just a stuffy nose and a little bit of congestion. Keep praying that he gets well! Oh, and pray for me. I've decided to get sick :( Ugh!

Eli's First Easter

Sunday morning, our little bunny woke up in the best mood. He'd slept so well the night before; I guess it was because he'd had such a busy day the day before. We walked out of the bedroom and saw that while we were sleeping the Easter Bunny had visited Grammy and Pop's house. There was a big basket of goodies for Eli and some smaller goodies for Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Josh, and Uncle Caleb. We set up on the island in the kitchen and handed him his Easter basket. It had baseballs on the side and the handle was a bat with his name written on it. Josh was happy to see that the Easter Bunny knew which sport he preferred. He's hoping for a little shortstop one day, just like he was. :)

Eli had a grand time opening his Easter basket. The Easter Bunny brought him a book about the true story of Easter, a stuffed yellow duck, a Winnie the Pooh DVD, and since he can't have candy, some carrots, sweet potatoes, and pears. Uncle Josh, Daddy, and Grammy helped Eli open his gifts while Mommy and Pop took lots of pictures of our cute little bunny.

Happy Easter, Eli!

Look what the bunny brought me!

Look at that cute, little bunny tail :)

Church started at 10:30, so we hurried to get everyone ready. Eli decided that he didn't want to take his bottle AT ALL, so that threw a kink in my plans. There was no way I was going to take him to a church service that would last 2 hours without any food in his stomach. I went ahead and dressed him for church in his Easter outfit that his Mamaw Chandler had bought him. It was a 9 month and it fit him perfectly! Like I said before, it's not the width that he's filling out, it's the length. He has such a long torso, just like Josh and I, so snapping outfits any smaller than 6-9 months is quite difficult. I warmed his bottle to take with us hoping that he would eat it on the way there in the car. Thankfully, he did just that and even took a 20 minute nap after he had eaten.

We got to church and he was sleeping so soundly. I knew that wouldn't last though because the praise and worship at my parent's church is not exactly on the quiet side; it's one of the reasons why I love going back home to visit. They have a full band and praise and worship usually lasts anywhere from 30-45 minutes. If you need a lift in your soul, then just stepping into the sanctuary during that time will do it. God's presence is so tangible in the sanctuary; I LOVE IT! Sure enough, we walked through the door and as soon as Eli heard the singing, his eyes popped open. He was entranced during most of the worship that day. He sat in his carrier and kicked his legs, cooed, and stared at everything with such wide, open eyes.

Eventually, he got tired of his carrier so I took him out to sit with me. He did pretty well during the rest of the service. We had to step out during the message because he needed a diaper change and was fighting sleep (what's new?). After church was over, we all loaded up and hurried home. The weather was already starting to get bad and we wanted to get on the road after lunch as soon as we could. Eli took a nap on the way home-WOO HOO!-and was still asleep when we got to my parent's house. We left him in his carrier and set him in Mom and Dad's bedroom.

Mom and Dad cooked a delicious Easter Sunday lunch. I was so happy that we all got to sit around the table with each other and enjoy the wonderful day and rejoice in the fact that JESUS IS ALIVE! Towards the end of the meal, Eli woke up and joined us at the table. He saw Mom's cup and decided that he really wanted it. I was curious to see what he would do with one of his own, so I filled a cup with a little water and gave it to Mom. She held it out to him and well, you'll see on the video, that he grabbed on to it so fast and wouldn't let go! He even tasted a little bit of the water and decided that water is SOME REALLY GOOD STUFF! Unfortunately for him, he'll have to wait on the cup for several more months. Hand-eye-mouth coordination is not quite developed enough for that yet! (Although, his doctor did say that we can introduce the sippy cup at 6 months. WHAT!? That's just around the corner!) Oh, you'll hear my mom say that I should have videoed this...I tried but my batteries in my camera were out. I had no idea that Dad was videoing, so video credit goes to him!





After lunch, we all gathered in front of the fireplace to take our Easter pictures. This year sure was different than last year-we had just found out I was pregnant with Eli and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! Despite the weather, we still got some wonderful pictures. The best thing of all is that Eli is HERE now! How exciting!!

Our little family :)

Pop, Eli and Grammy

Eli and his great-Grandma

It was a WONDERFUL weekend. I'm so glad that we got to spend this time with my family. I can't wait until the summer when we go again. Eli will probably get to swim in Grammy and Pop's pool next time-that will be REALLY fun! Josh and I loaded up the car, Eli gave goodbye sugar and hugs, and we got on the road. Eli did much better on the ride back than he did on the way there, sleeping most of the way home. We only had to stop once for a quick diaper change :) We finally made it home! Eli took his last bottle and was out in about 10 minutes...Mommy and Daddy weren't far behind!

A Very Busy Saturday (LONG POST WITH LOTS OF PICS)

Saturday was chock full of activities for our whole family. I have so much to blog about that I decided to do chapters in this one post. It's really long, but there are lots of pictures for those of you that skip the words and go straight for the pics :) Don't worry, I don't mind. I do it sometimes, too!

Chapter 1-Getting Ready for the Day

Eli woke up Saturday, after spending his first night away from his crib, in a wonderful mood. Mom purchased a crib on the go for Eli. It's a little smaller than your average crib, but bigger than a bassinet or pack-n-play. I tried my hardest to keep him on his nightly schedule and he went down without a fight, but was very restless most of the night. I don't know how much of it was due to being in a new place with new sounds and smells or if it was due to the fact that he is still teething and was just a little irritable because of his gums. Around 3 AM, he woke up and had a very stuffy nose and felt warm to me. I took him to the bathroom, suctioned his nose, and took his temp. He was running a low grade fever, so I gave him a half dose of Tylenol. He also seemed hungry (odd for him), so I fed him about 3 oz. and put him back in his crib. He seemed to do much better then and woke up a little later than normal Saturday morning feeling much better. Mommy actually got to sleep in until 7 AM! Hooray!

Josh woke up early to go golfing, so while we waited for him to get back, Eli had fun playing with Grammy and Pop. Just like all boys, Eli was very interested in the TV remote. Uh oh! There may be fights in the years to come between my two boys over who gets control of the remote. I guess it's a good thing we have two TV's!

Now which button changes the channel?
I want to watch cartoons!

After playing and taking his bottle, Eli was pooped and took a long nap on Grammy's bed. I barricaded him with pillows on all sides, so he wouldn't roll anywhere and checked on him probably 12 times during that 1 1/2 hour nap! I was so happy that he was actually staying on schedule :) He woke up in a wonderful mood and spent about another hour playing on Grammy's bed. They sang "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", he showed her how he could sit up like a big boy, how he can push himself up on his legs, and how he is a little roly poly! At one point, Uncle David, my mom's brother, called to let us know they were on their way to come visit and Eli got to talk to him on the telephone.

Mr. Sleepyhead when he woke up from his nap.

Showing off how he can sit up!

Silly boy!

Playing with Grammy

Talking to Uncle David

Chapter 2-Meeting His Texas Family

Eli played a little more and soon was tired again, so I took him to Mom's room to try to put him down again, but in the midst of me trying to do that, Josh got home, my Dad came in from outside with the dogs, and David, Stephanie and their kids arrived. A nap was out of the question now! Eli heard all that noise and he popped his head up and started wiggling around trying to see where it was all coming from. I resigned myself to the fact that his second nap of the day would have to be in the car and we went to meet his Texas family. Stephanie couldn't wait to get her hands on him. Ever since he was born, she has been keeping up with him on the blog and has sent a care package full of goodies for him every month. I am so glad these two finally got to meet! He also got to meet his cousins Samantha and Emily for the first time, too. (David and Stephanie's oldest, Katharine, couldn't make it because of work, but we hope we see her sometime soon!) They gave Eli his Easter basket and I must have been out of my mind because I have zero pictures of it! It was so cute! They gave him a Mickey Mouse Easter basket with a set of bath ducks and a book inside it. He really loved the Mickey Mouse on the front of his Easter basket and started reaching for it immediately. Thanks for thinking of him, Stephanie!

Chapter 3-Meeting the Easter Bunny

David, Stephanie, and the kids could only stay for a couple of hours because they needed to get back home before the bad weather moved in, so they adapted their plans to fit ours. I really wanted Eli to get his picture made with the Easter Bunny at the mall, so we all loaded up and went there first. We got there a little early and saw that the Easter Bunny was away tending his garden (or so the sign said so), so we went to Baby Gap to shop until he came back. I've been wanting to find Eli some baby sunglasses, but he decided he wanted Pop's instead! He looks like Mr. Joe Cool here :) I've also been on the hunt for a cute hat for Eli and while we were in Gap, Josh spotted this golfing one. We tried it on Eli and he looked so cute! I can't wait for him to go golfing with his Daddy in his hat :)

Mr. Joe Cool in Pop's sunglasses

Eli sporting his new hat.

We noticed that the line for the Easter Bunny had started to fill up, so we quickly made our purchases and hurried to join the others in line. The wait wasn't that long and before we knew it, we were next. Josh and I had been watching all the kids before us and how they reacted to seeing the bunny. Most of them screamed and cried, so we wondered what Eli was going to do. I'm not one of those people that have to have the perfect smiling picture; I actually think it's funny to have pictures of your kids screaming when they first meet Santa or the Easter Bunny. You'll always remember it for sure! I was prepared to tell the lady behind the camera to just get a picture that was in focus no matter what he did, but Eli showed us all that he was big and brave. He sat there like a champ and smiled at his Mommy and Daddy (who were making BIG goofballs of themselves making silly noises and faces trying to get him to give one of his "Eli smiles") It worked and in less than 5 minutes we had his first picture of him with the Easter Bunny. I was so happy that Josh and I got to celebrate this "first" with Eli. We waited so long for him to arrive, and now we can't imagine our lives without him in it! He is such a joy and every day is so much fuller with him in it :)

Family Pic :)
I love these two boys so much!

Waiting for the Easter Bunny in Pop's arms

Cheesin' with the Easter Bunny

Hey Mommy! This is fun!

Are we done yet? I've got a schedule to keep!

See you next year, Mr. Bunny!

Chapter 3-Eli Meets Brody

When I first found out I was pregnant, I decided to start a blog since my family lives away from us. This way they could keep up with what was going on in our lives and my pregnancy and still be involved. After I started my blog, I started frequenting other blogs of friends of ours and then would go to their friend's blogs from their sites. One of Josh's childhood friends, Jamie, had a blog about her little girl Olivia. I had always read about Aunt Cheryl on Jamie's blog and one day while going through Jamie's Blog Roll, I noticed that Cheryl had her own blog. I was so surprised when I went to her page and saw that she was pregnant, too! From that day on, I visited Cheryl's blog as part of my daily computer time and I loved watching as her pregnancy progressed. She was several weeks ahead of me, so I always loved reading hers because I got a preview of what was going to happen next. Her little boy Brody was born exactly 6 weeks before Eli. I have so enjoyed watching him grow up on the computer screen. He is so full of energy and Cheryl always captures the best pictures of him. Cheryl and her family just happen to live in the same town as my parents, so when I knew for sure we were going there for Easter. I contacted her to see if she wanted to meet each other and each others little boys in person. She happily agreed and said that she would invite Jamie, Olivia, and the rest of their family as well. She also invited one of her and Jamie's good friends, Diana. Strangely enough Diana was one of my high school friends that I graduate with 10 years ago this May. WOW! What a small world it is!

We got to the Boardwalk and I immediately spotted Cheryl, Brody, Jamie, Olivia, and Jamie's mom, Mrs. Debbie. It was hard to miss Cheryl since we both have the same stroller (purely by coincidence). Brody was fast asleep in his stroller. He had decided to not take a nap all day and had finally fallen asleep in the car on the ride over. Cheryl was trying to make that nap last as long as possible. Gee, a baby that doesn't want to sleep and just wants to play all day...does that sound like any other baby you know? :) These two little boys share so many of the same characteristics; it's uncanny!

Brody finally woke up and we introduced the boys to each other. As you can see, Eli couldn't wait to get his hands on Brody. Eli is really into reaching and grabbing things right now and, in his mind, Brody, Brody's clothes, and Brody's shoes were fair game! Poor Brody! He didn't seem to mind. Next time, I'll make sure Eli plays nicer. We took TONS of pictures. It was so much fun to finally meet the people that I had been reading about for so long. We are going to try to get together this summer when Eli and I come visit my parents again. I imagine, by that time, both boys will be crawling, so a relaxing play date it definitely WON'T be, but it will be lots of fun!

It looks like Eli is trying to push Brody out of the picture.
Maybe he was just trying to get his attention....let's hope so!

Brody, where'd you get those jeans?

Jamie, Olivia, me, Eli, Cheryl, and Brody

Gettin' some love from Mrs. Debbie

Eli's new friend, Brody

Cheryl and Brody

Me, Cheryl, Diana, and Jamie

Brody gave Eli a gift from Gymboree since he knew that there isn't one where Eli lives.
He got 2 music CD's and a thing of bubbles. Thanks, Brody and Brody's Mommy!

If babies could talk....
Eli: Hey! That's my Mommy!
Brody: This kid better quit pushing me....

Chapter 4--Eli Goes Shopping

After all that excitement, Eli was very hungry and so were the rest of us. We decided to take a break and eat lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. This was Eli's first sit-down and order restaurant that he had ever been to, so I was curious to see how he would do. I had the waitress bring a glass full of hot water to warm his bottle (since he will only take a bottle if it's REALLY warm). Once his bottle was warm, he ate and was OUT! He slept for a little bit, long enough for us to order and at least start on our food, before he decided to wake up and put on a show. He was still so very sleepy but he wanted to play so much more instead. I resigned myself to the fact that, once again, his nap would probably be in the car, but at least he would have a nap.

Woo Hoo! My first restaurant! Give me a menu!

He loved meeting David, Stephanie, Samantha, and Emily and went around the table to all of them and gave out lots of hugs and sugar. I hate that they couldn't stay longer, but we're going to see them this summer. Eli's going to be so big then! All too soon, it was time to say goodbye to David, Stephanie and the girls. They wanted to get back before their oldest daughter got off work later that night. Eli gave them goodbye hugs and then we hit a few stores before leaving the Boardwalk ourselves.

Uncle David trying to pass the bill to Eli.

Uncle David, Aunt Stephanie, Samantha, Eli and Emily

Stephanie and Eli

Emily, can I have just a teeny tiny taste of your ice cream?

Giving Stephanie some good lovin' before she has to leave

We stopped at Gymboree, Osh Kosh, and Carter's and I was able to pick up lots of cute clothes for Eli. This kid is growing like a weed! He's only 5 months old, but any kind of one piece outfit has to be a 9 month if it's going to fit him in the length. Carter's was having a huge sale, so I was able to rack up on several cute outfits :) Gotta love bargain shopping! I also found Eli a pair of cute baby sunglasses at Gymboree. Now his pretty blue eyes will be protected when he goes to the golf course with his Daddy. Finally, it was time to go home. It had been a long day, but our little man had done SO SO well. We were so proud of him! We got in the car and before we were even on the interstate, he was sleeping soundly.

He was so tired at this point, but REFUSED to sleep.

Eli with his first pair of sunglasses.

Chapter 5- Bathtime and Bedtime

Eli was so exhausted from his busy day, so when we got home he played with Uncle Caleb for just a little bit before Mommy sent him to the tub. He had the best time playing in the tub with his new ducks from David, Stephanie and the girls. Do you think he was hungry? :) I didn't bring our bathtub, so Mom and I improvised by sticking him in his Bumbo. It worked so well, I may have to try that at home. Mom thought it would be fun to see what he would do without the Bumbo and, I think, we may have a swimmer on our hands! He had such fun crawling around in the tub. After his busy day, Eli was asleep in minutes and didn't hardly stir at all that night.

It was such a beautiful and memorable day. I'm so glad that we were able to spend it all together and have fun, especially since Sunday was not going to be so pretty in the weather department. Stay tuned for the Easter post!

Playing with Uncle Caleb

Bathtime! Check out those curls!

Mmmm, this duck tastes good!

Cute little hiney :)

Practicing sitting up in the bathtub