Eli vs. Chair

I have found that Eli can get into some pretty precarious situations these days due to his ever increasing mobility. I was in the kitchen washing dishes when I heard a little squeal of delight from under the kitchen countertop. I walked over and this is what I found. He had managed to squeeze himself in the middle of the chair, but couldn't figure out how to get out again. After snapping a few pictures, I decided to video his great escape. Houdini he is not! It took him a little while to figure out that the chair would not magically lift when he stood up. The video is a little long (about 2 minutes), but he is successful at the end :)

Unexpected News

I've told you before that for about as long as I've been a Christian, my verse that I have often turned to is Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a good future." For so many years that verse has been such a comfort to me. I know that no matter what happens in my life, God ultimately is in control and he has a good plan for my life. It's funny how a verse can mean one thing to you one day and then the next you are clinging to that verse like it's your only hope in the world. I guess that's where I am right now...

Monday, I received some bad news about the new baby. I went in for another ultrasound to check for the heartbeat because the last time I went, I was still very early to hear it. Whether it was women's intution or God quietly preparing my heart, I knew something was going to happen. I spent the entire time in the waiting room praying for my unborn baby. I wish I could say that I prayed that it would be perfectly healthy, but I didn't. I prayed for God's will to happen in my life. I continued praying all the way back into the ultrasound room and during the entire procedure. What I told God was simply that this baby had been his from the moment it was conceived and he knew exactly what needed to happen with this child. This child was his and his alone. The doctor began the ultrasound and then my worst fears were confirmed. She left the room to go get the senior doctor so he could take over the ultrasound. I was trying my hardest to be strong and to not doubt that anything was wrong, but when he measured the baby, and it measured the same as it did 2 weeks ago, my world came crashing in on me. Something was wrong with my baby...He punched another button, one that shows blood movement in the womb and even with my untrained eye, I could see that no blood was moving through the baby...no heartbeat. Then I heard the words, "I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you...I can't find a heartbeat." I managed to stay composed until they started talking about my options...let nature take its course or do a D & C. They kept asking if I had questions about anything they were telling me and I finally just told them I couldn't even think and I just needed to get out of there. I made it to the car and then I just broke down. I know that I've only been pregnant for a few weeks, but a baby is a baby-whether it's just been conceived or just born. There was a life inside me and now there's not. Some of you may be asking why in the world am I writing about this...I have to. It's the only way I can help deal with the pain and the loss.

I know many of you share the same story; you've been where Josh and I are right now. You know exactly what we're going through. You know the loss that we are feeling. To those of you that don't, please just pray. Pray for God's healing for our hearts because honestly, they're pretty broken right now. Pray for God's peace in my life. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is in control and I know that though I may never see that little baby here on this earth, he/she is in heaven right now, along with so many other babies that haven't made it. I know that God has a perfect plan for my life. I know that he is still my God and even though I am hurt right now, I am going to praise him through this storm. He is right here with us and, praise God, is never going to leave us. Thanks in advance for your thoughts, prayers, and concerns.

L-A-Z-Y

Okay, so we're trying our hardest to get Eli to hold his bottle for his bottle feedings. He does well for a couple of minutes and then he starts playing with the bottle instead of eating it. Sunday morning before church, he noticed the bottle, reached for it (SO EXCITED THAT HE ACTUALLY WANTED HIS BOTTLE!), and drank about 4 ounces before deciding he was finished. We turned on Baby Praise so we could get ready for church and during the middle of the DVD, Eli noticed his bottle and put it to his mouth to finish it. He was having a hard time holding it up, so we improvised. His Activigator, that his Aunt Lisa Brown gave him, became a temporary bottle holder for Eli. Is this a picture of a lazy baby or what? LOL! Good news is he drained his bottle. Bad news is he didn't hold the bottle. Oh well, one bottle battle at a time. He'll eventually get there :)

Baby Dedication

This past Sunday was a special day in the life of our little family. Not only was it Josh's first Father's Day, but it was also Baby Dedication day at our church. Long before Eli entered this world, Josh and I knew that Eli belonged to God. From the moment we found out I was carrying him, we gave him up to God. We prayed that God would use Eli's little life to glorify and bring praise to His name. Baby Dedication is more for the parents than it is for the babies. It's not a baptism for the babies nor are they saved once they've been dedicated; rather, it's a time for the parents to make a promise to God that they are going to do their best to raise their child/children the way God would have them to raise them. They are promising in front of family and friends to raise their child in a godly home, to teach them about Jesus, and to be examples of Jesus in their daily lives. It's such an important and special time for everyone involved. Standing on that stage, I was overwhelmed by how blessed Josh and I are. There we were dedicating our precious son, who we had prayed for and dreamed about for so many months. God has been so good to us! We are so very grateful to him.

This year our church had an EXPLOSION of babies. What a wonderful sign of a growing church! Sunday, we dedicated 11 children to God in front of a church filled with family and friends from all over the area. All the babies received a certificate of dedication and a Bible to commemorate this special day.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Blowing bubbles at Sarah (thanks for taking these pics, Sarah!)

Listening intently as Dan explains the purpose behind Baby Dedication

Waiting our turn

Dan reading out Eli's birth info to the church

This is just half of the babies that were up there. WOW!

Praying for God's blessing on all of the families' lives
We are so very very blessed!

What Baby Wants, Baby Gets (with the grandparents, of course!)

This past Sunday, Eli was dedicated at our church (that post is coming!). Mom and Dad (Grammy and Pop) drove in Saturday morning to be here for that special time. Eli had just fallen asleep when they arrived, but, in true form, he was up and ready to play in 30 minutes :) He just needed a little bit of recharging, I guess.

Grammy and Pop brought Eli his very own cell phone. He was very excited about that. Now he can call Grammy whenever he wants to and not have to wait on Mommy.

Running the cell phone through the taste test....It passed!

Call 1-800-GRAMMY!

Eli had a great time playing with Mom and Dad. He showed off all his new skills-crawling and pulling up-to them and earned lots of praises and smiles. Soon he was tired of all the crawling and pulling up and wanted to have some cuddle time with Grammy. Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? is one of his favorite books right now. He picked that one out and he and Grammy read it together.

After story time, Grammy and Pop decided they wanted to buy Eli a baby pool so he could have fun splishing and splashing in his very own backyard. We went to the store and came back 30 minutes later with this cute inflatable pool. This wasn't what we were looking for, but we are definitely glad we went with the inflatable kind because he loves to bump his head against things these days!

Notice his hand in the grass. He LOVES grass!

Checking out the grass again...

Getting splashed by Grammy
Every time someone splashed him, he'd suck in his breath and gasp.

Smiling up at his Daddy

Looking for Maggie, our golden retriever.

He LOVES Maggie these days. His favorite thing to do is to look out the windows of our French doors to see Maggie on the patio.

Daddy didn't really understand the purpose behind these caterpillar stacking cups, but Eli loved chewing on them!

Thanks Grammy and Pop for all the fun stuff you bought Eli this weekend. He's going to get lots of use out of all of it!

Getting Into Everything

Life these days at the Wilson household has been a lot of fun. Eli is having a blast finally getting his hands on everything in our house that for months he's only been able to stare at and dream about one day touching. He does not stay in one spot very long and is intent about seeing just how many bruises and bumps he can get on his poor little head. You'll see a couple in some of these pictures, in fact. He thinks he is so much bigger than his britches, but you can see how proud he is of himself every time he pulls himself up on yet another piece of furniture. Josh and I have tried to make our home conducive to all his exploring, but Eli always seems to find a way to live a little dangerously. He is crawling everywhere and, during the day, will follow me from room to room as I do chores (don't laugh, Josh!). Eli has an infectious laugh and now every time he spots something he wants and begins to crawl towards it, he lets out a loud squawk and then races to get what he spotted. I am enjoying being home with him so much! I can't believe how fast summer is flying by, so I'm going to make sure that I enjoy each and every day with my little man :) Here are a few pictures of Eli and all the fun he's been having exploring!

Eli playing peek-a-boo under his exersaucer

Who knew dining room chairs were such a delicacy?

I probably had just told him "No" about something he wanted.

Turning on the DVD player. I guess he was ready for some Baby Praise.

Trying Gerber Puffs for the very first time. I love this face!

Baby Jerry Lee Lewis playing his piano (ALWAYS standing up, of course!)

What happens when you try to play with two toys at once?

You get S-T-U-C-K!
(Don't worry, I rescued him after I took this picture)

The face I get when a certain little boy wants Mommy's camera and she
does not give it to him.

But his obsession with Daddy's iPhone and Mommy's Blackjack did earn him
his very own Motorola cell phone. It's one of my old ones, but he doesn't care!

Eli's new favorite sport: Guitar case jumping
He LOVES to crawl on top and over Josh's guitar case all the time.

Weekend at Grammy and Pop's

This past weekend, we traveled to visit my parents for my dad's big 50th birthday bash. Oddly enough, Josh and my dad have the exact same birthday, just 20 years apart. Josh was turning the big 3-0 and Dad was turning half a century (that makes him sound like a geezer!). We left Saturday morning after Eli's mid-morning bottle and just like we thought he would, he went right to sleep and slept the entire 3 1/2 hours to my parents house. He's such a great traveler!

We got there and it was time for Eli to have some lunch before he went swimming. I attempted feeding him in my old high chair again, but as you can see, he decided to make it a challenge for me. I guess standing up and eating was much more fun for him! What you don't see however, is the picture of what the kitchen looked like after his little hand slapped the bowl out of my hand and landed all over Grammy's brand new kitchen cabinets. He was quite happy with himself; Mommy laughed, but didn't enjoy the clean up very much.

Messy boy!

After his lunch, we got him ready for the pool. The glasses we bought the last time we were in Shreveport are no longer working now that he has figured out how to yank them off the minute I put them on him. I think we're going to have to invest in some Baby Banz-glasses with a band that fits around the baby's head like ski goggles-if he spends lots of time in the pool these next few years.

"I'm ready for the pool!"

Grammy bought Eli a little float to help keep the sun off his head, but Eli is against leaning back and relaxing in the pool, so I had to help shade him the whole time he was in the pool. Eventually, he got tired of the confinement and I let him out to swim with Mommy for a little bit. Don't worry, he was coated in baby sunscreen!

Mom and Dad love animals and have even acquired another one...my brother, Caleb, adopted this black lab named Meg, and she has joined the other fur kids. She loved jumping in the pool and fetching this giant frisbee. After a couple of dives, she decided to get out and see if Eli would throw her frisbee for her. Unfortunately, his hand-eye coordination skills aren't quite that develped yet, so she had to settle on just sniffing him a little. He was taken by surprise as you can tell.

"Who's sniffing me?"

It wasn't too long, before Eli was tired of the pool. One of mom's friends gave her these little kid loungers for Eli, so we wrapped him up tight in his towel and let him chill by the pool for a little bit. He loved watching Uncle Caleb and the fur kids, Sophie, Annabelle, Max, and Meg, swim in the pool. He thought that was great fun, especially while chewing on his sunglasses. Can you tell we're still teething?

"Ugh, Mommy! Take these off me!"

After relaxing a little bit, he got in the pool for one more dip with Uncle Caleb. By this time, he was so tired and was ready for a nap, so he didn't stay in long at all. He did have quite a surprise when the fur kids jumped in to see what Caleb was holding. He wanted out of the pool quickly after that. After some good lovin' from Mommy, he was ready to go in and take his nap. He knew he needed to be well rested for Pop's big birthday bash in a couple of hours.

Swimming with Uncle Caleb

The fur kids checkin' out Eli

"Get me outta here!"

Laughing at Daddy behind Mommy

Chillin' by the pool

Safe and snug in Mommy's arms

Eli took a long nap and was in a great mood when the guests started arriving for Pop's 50th birthday celebration. Dad got lots of great gifts, some gag gifts (that he'll probably actually use!), and lots of fun wishes for the next 50 years. Everyone had a great time! Josh and Joshua, my brother, manned the grill for the party and grilled some very tasty chicken and burgers. Those that were brave enough had some crawfish. I'm normally a huge crawfish lover, but these crawfish were the hottest crawfish my mouth has ever tasted. Josh peeled me some (I couldn't touch them since I was holding Eli...hot spicy crawfish and babies don't mix well) and after about 3 I couldn't feel my tongue anymore. That was the end of the crawfish for me! Eli enjoyed being passed around to meet all Grammy and Pop's friends, but in the end he decided he'd spend the rest of the night in Daddy's arms before turning in for the night.

Dad's walker

Joshua and Josh manning the grill

Eli and I bringing Pop his special cane

Showing off his special cane in honor of his 50th birthday.
It squeaked every time it touched the ground.

Eli and Josh

The HUGE universal remote control that Mom gave him as a gag gift
that he actually programmed to use.
I guess he really did need it!

Lots of old people humor in this book...

Every handyman's dream card--a gift card to Lowe's

Cool clothes for a cool Dad/Grandpa

Dad's first letter from the AARP

We all came inside once the mosquitoes made their appearance (gotta love Louisiana!) and Josh opened his birthday gifts. He got several gift cards that I think he's planning on using for some much needed golfing supplies. It was such a great night. I'm so glad we were able to spend it with family and friends.

Josh with all his birthday cards

The next morning, Grandma came down to visit before she headed off to work. Eli loved on her and gave her kisses before she left. Then he decided it was time to check out Pop's computer. At home, he's never allowed on ours, but you know that grandbabies are allowed to do whatever they want at the grandparents house, so he had free reign. He hit the keys and slapped the screen and had a grand time surfin' the net.

Eli and Grandma

Surfin' the net

Chillin' on the couch with Grammy

Before too long, it was time for our family to load up the car and get ready to leave. We all loaded up in the car and headed to Posados for some yummy Mexican food before getting on the road for the trip home. Eli was such a big boy and sat in his high chair the entire time we were there. He didn't even fuss until about 10 minutes before it was time for us to go. It was great! Maybe we can actually start to venture out to restaurants again now :)

Sitting in his high chair like a big boy.

Grammy and Pop tried to tempt Eli with some ice cream, but he wasn't having any part of it. He remembered that Dr. Russ told him no cow's milk until he was 12 months, so he showed some incredible willpower and resisted the ice cream cone. Mommy, Daddy, Grammy and Pop didn't show as much willpower though, and all made sure to get their free soft serve vanilla cone before leaving. Pigs, I know! I'm sure Eli will be joining us in a few months. Our whole family loves ice cream, so I don't see why he is going to be any different.

It was such a great weekend and Eli did very well on the ride home, too. He slept most of the way and the rest of the time he played with some of his toys and books. It was a fun weekend, but a busy one and we were glad when we finally made it home. As Dorothy says, "There's no place like home!"

Eli being tempted to eat ice cream (not really, they were just playing)
I told them that they can take him to Dairy Queen
on his first birthday if they want though :)