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!