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

Eli Visits Grammy and Pop's House

Eli sitting up in his crib like a big boy. He is ready to go visit his grandparents!

We left our house around 12 o'clock. Eli had just finished a full bottle and was sound asleep in Zue-Zue's arms; of course, as luck would have it, he woke up as soon as he was strapped into his car seat. Fun times! We didn't really worry too much because we knew he was extremely tired and would probably go to sleep once we got on the road. Sure enough, by the time we were 15 minutes out of town, Eli was snoozing big time! We were so happy! I pulled out a magazine, Josh turned up the tunes, and we cruised down the road happy to have a sleeping baby on his first big road trip. We thought, "Traveling is such a breeze!"Then the baby decided to wake up and cry, cry, cry, and cry some more. Nothing I did would soothe him. After about 10 minutes of non-stop crying, we finally pulled into a gas station, unbuckled him, and let him get some fresh air to calm him down. After some fresh air, a game of peek-a-boo with Daddy, and a diaper change, we were off again! This time we made it about 45 minutes down the road before Eli decided to let us know he wasn't happy with being confined in his carseat. Once again, I did my best to calm him down, entertain him, make him laugh, do anything but cry! Nothing I did worked. So, what were two frazzled parents to do? Turn up the radio, of course! Marc Broussard to the rescue! Obviously, Eli has good taste in music like his parents because Marc didn't even get through the first song before Eli had calmed down and was relaxed again. Thank you, thank you, thank you! He took a long nap this time and didn't wake up again until we were right outside of Shreveport. He woke up exactly when he needed to be fed (I am still amazed how babies do this!) so we pulled into Academy so Josh could shop for some golf balls and so I could feed Eli. I wanted to go ahead and give him his bottle before we made it to my parent's house because I knew there would be too many new things to look at there. Josh came back, we loaded Eli into his car seat one more time, and traveled the rest of the way in peace with a quiet, sleeping baby :)

Josh saw this and asked if I was packing for the end of the world.
I told him I'd rather have too much, than too little!
We've decided that if we have another kid, we're trading the Pilot in for a Suburban :)

Such a sweet, innocent face. He can't wait to see his grandparents again!

Eli woke up as soon as we pulled into my parent's driveway, kind of hard not to, since the neighbor's German Shepherd barked at us the whole way down the drive. I guess she was part of the welcoming committee that was so excited we were finally there. We pulled around to the front yard (Mom and Dad live in the country, so driving in your yard is quite common around here) so we could avoid the entourage of dogs and cats that couldn't wait to sniff their newest toy. Mom and Dad were SO excited to see Eli..........and us, too, I guess, but mostly the baby :) Eli immediately tunred on the charm and started giving lots of smiles and laughs to both of them. He was so happy to see his Grammy, Pop, and Uncle Caleb again!

After settling in, Eli was introduced to the doggies-Sophie Jane, Annabelle Rose, and Maximus Kane. They were so intrigued with this new "toy" that their sissy had brought them. They couldn't wait to sniff him. I was a little hesitant about them getting too close, mainly because I was scared they might try to find Eli's squeaker like all their other toys have :) Grammy and Pop came to the rescue though and put up a puppy gate to separate the living room from the kitchen/dining room area. The puppies got an all access pass to Eli, and Eli got to play, roll, and scoot around as much as he wanted. Now, the puppies aren't used to being puppies. Around Mom and Dad's house, they're just like children; in fact, Mom and Dad refer to them as their "fur kids." They are as gentle as can be and love to love on people, so they were a little confused when they realized that they couldn't love on Eli. Sophie decided to let everyone know she wasn't happy and started to bark when Dad was talking to Eli. Eli must have thought that Dad was doing the barking, because he started belly laughing every time he heard Sophie bark. It was so HILARIOUS!



Eli also gots lots of play time with his Uncle Caleb Friday afternoon and it was decided that he LOVES his Uncle Caleb. Caleb started making funny faces and noises and he had Eli laughing just about as much as Sophie did.

Eli and Uncle Caleb

All that excitement made my little man hungry, so he settled down for a dinner of cereal and peas. Who wants leftovers? :) Pop went and got my old highchair and Eli got to eat in it. He tested my feeding skills because he was much more interested in the looking at the puppies on the other side of the gate than eating his peas and cereal. He finally finished his dinner, played a little more, took his bath, had his night time bottle, and went to sleep. He was EXHAUSTED and he was going to have an even busier day Saturday, so he needed his beauty rest :)

Eli with his pea stained mouth.

Smiling at Pop with rice cereal in his mouth

It was such a busy day, but such a fun day as well. It's times like these that I wish we all lived closer together, so we could do things like this more often. I am so happy that we were able to make this trip.

First BIG Road Trip

Later this morning, we are all going to load up the Pilot and go on Eli's first BIG road trip. I say BIG because he's never had to sit in his carseat for over three hours. When he was about 2 months, we took a little trip to Monroe to go shopping and he did great; he slept the entire way there and the entire way back almost! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll do the same thing on this road trip. My parents haven't seen Eli since he turned 4 months and I'm so ready for him to go visit! It's going to be very interesting though, because Mom and Dad have 3 dogs in the house and 4 cats (Do you think they love animals? Ha Ha!) Eli sees cats at Mammy's every day, but he's never really been up close and personal to a dog, yet, because Maggie pretty much licks his feet and then goes on her merry little way. I hope he'll do great though. If you think about it, say a prayer. I'm going to try to stick to his schedule as much as I can as far as sleeping and eating. Let's hope he cooperates :)

Another reason I'm excited is that we might get to meet one of my blog friends, Cheryl, her little boy, Brody, and one of Josh's childhood friends, Jamie, and her daughter, Olivia. We're going to do our best to try to meet up at the Boardwalk. We'll see how that works out. I'd love to see them since we're going to be in the same town and all.

Eli's still sleeping, so I guess I need to get off the computer and go pack. I'm so glad we bought a bigger vehicle. I have NO IDEA where we're going to put everything that we have to take for this trip. It's going to test my packing skills :)

I'll have lots of pictures to post when we get back Sunday. Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from Mammy and Uncle Clare

Our old grill finally bit the dust, so this past weekend, Josh and Tommy went and got a new one. They spent Sunday night putting it together, but we didn't really get a chance to use it. Last night, we finally got to test out the new grill :) We invited Zue-Zue, Mammy, Uncle Clare, and Tommy over for some yummy rotisserie chicken. It took awhile to cook, but it was so GOOD when we finally got to eat it. Yum-Yum!

When Mammy and Uncle Clare got to the house, they had a special Easter basket for Eli. How sweet! Eli went and took his bath and when we got out we let him "open" his basket. (Excuse the winter themed pj's for Easter...I didn't think ahead on that.)


We showed Eli his basket and he immediately went for the books. They gave him two Little Golden books-The Poky Little Puppy and Baby Farm Animals, and they also gave Eli a book about the true meaning of Easter.

After chewing on the books for a little bit, Eli went for the chocolate bunny. Oh, dear! He might have inherited his Mommy's sweet tooth :)

As you can tell, he was a little confused by the Easter grass, but like with anything else, the best way to find out about something is to put it in your mouth. He hated the taste even more than he hated the way it felt!


Thanks, Mammy and Uncle Clare for Eli's Easter basket! We were so "hoppy" to get it! HA! Sorry, cheesy joke, but I had to :)

Eli's New Highchair

Since we've started Eli on rice cereal, oatmeal, and are just beginning baby food, feeding him has gotten a little trickier. I tried the bouncy seat a couple of times, but after I realized that I was washing the bouncy seat cover after every feeding, I figured it was time for something easier to clean. A couple days ago, I pulled out the highchair that my parents gave us and assembled it. I love that the seat reclines so it makes it easier to feed him right now. Plus, it's so easy to pull him up right next to the table so he can interact with us while we eat and be part of the conversation. Of course, he HATES getting buckled in, but with him being a wiggle worm it's a DEFINITE must! After I uploaded these pictures, I looked at them and couldn't believe how big Eli looked sitting in his highchair. He is growing up so fast!

5 Months Old

5 months! Where does the time go? I feel like it was just yesterday that I was blogging about Eli turning 4 months old. Before I know it, he's going to be a year!

Eli is so much fun these days! Not to say that he hasn't been fun in all the previous months, but now he is just so active and doing so much! Josh and I love playing with him and watching him as he plays and explores the world around him. He is such a happy baby and loves, loves, loves attention! (Oh, dear!) If he is in the room with you, he is under the impression that you are supposed to be in constant conversation with him :) He's our little social butterfly.

Eli is growing by leaps and bounds these days and it seems like every day he is accomplishing some new feat. It feels likes just yesterday that he learned to roll both ways and now Josh and I need a GPS locator to keep up with him in the house! Seriously, this kid can roll and even scoot now! He's so strong and LOVES to stand up on his chubby little legs, even though he can't stand for very long. He adores his Daddy; his face lights up the room when he spots Josh. It's so sweet! Someone in the church nursery the other day mentioned how alert and active he was...spend a couple of hours with Eli and you will feel like you have just completed a marathon. Crawling is going to be lots of fun! :) I can't wait!

I always knew that I would love being a Mommy, but I had no idea it would be this much fun. This little boy has completed changed my world. I look at him and am in awe of how much he has grown and changed in just five months. I look forward to each and every day to see what new thing Eli is going to do. Every smile, laugh, squeal, and smirk light up my world. Josh and I are so incredibly blessed!

New Accomplishments:
- rolling over both ways
- eating from a spoon
- eating baby food for the first time (Applesauce...didn't enjoy it that much. We have since tried sweet potatoes and he LOVED those)
- sleeping through the night without his swaddling blanket. THANK YOU, JESUS! Mommy and Daddy love their sleep!
- cutting his first tooth

Likes:
-Mommy, Daddy, and anyone that will talk to him :)
- NUK pacifier
- Jumperoo
- Jumping on your lap
- Exersaucer
- Sitting up with help
- Playing Superman with Daddy
- Playing Peek-a-Boo with Mommy
- Being tickled
- Books, books, books!
- Going outside
- Listening to Mommy and Daddy sing really silly songs
- Oatmeal cereal
- Taking baths

Dislikes:
- Being rocked to sleep. He can be rubbing his eyes, yawning, and fussing, but will pitch a royal fit when you try to put him down. He's going to get a second job as a contortionist one of these days :)
- Laying down when he wants to sit up, sitting up when he wants to lay down

Even with these few dislikes, I have to say that Eli is SUCH a good baby. Josh and I are so very thankful for this precious little boy. He has brought so much joy to our lives!

(I know what you're thinking..."What?! No pictures?" We had a very busy day and Eli was already down for the night when I realized that I didn't have any pictures to attach to this post. Don't worry! I'll make up for it very, very soon)

Memorable Day

Today was a memorable day in the life of our church. Since this past fall, our sanctuary has been undergoing a renovation to update, remodel, and expand our church. It has been so neat to see the daily transformations that have taken place on the outside of the church, and today I got to see all the transformations on the inside for the first time. I am so excited and ready for the day the sanctuary renovation is complete and we can all gather together in our new sanctuary.

Last week, Dan told the congregation that we were going to do something special today for Palm Sunday. He told us that we were going to write scripture verses on the floor of the new sanctuary to prepare the church and our hearts for the amazing work that God is going to do in the life of our church in the years to come. I thought this was such a great idea and I knew immediately the verse that I wanted to write for Eli.

This morning, the entire congregation walked over to the new sanctuary and spent time writing scripture verses all over the floors. It was so powerful! To see all the families in our church and how intently they were writing the words of God and the names of the loved ones that they wanted to come to know Christ on the floors of our church...I was so glad that Josh, Eli, and I were there to be a part of it.


The first verse I wrote was the verse I picked out for Eli and for our family-Proverbs 22:6
I wrote Eli's name underneath it because it is our hope and our prayer that one day Eli will come to know Jesus and accept him in his heart. What an amazing testimony that will be!


Josh and I know that we have such an important job now in raising Eli. It has been my prayer from the first day that I found out I was expecting that God would give both of us the wisdom we need to raise this precious little boy and that we would be examples of Christ daily in our lives. I hope that one day in the near future, I will be able to write a post about my little boy asking Jesus into his heart for the first time at the very altar we knelt at today. What a wonderful day that will be!


Josh and I also wrote two verses that were special to each of us. I wrote Jeremiah 29:11. It is a verse that has always given me such hope and lets me know that no matter how bad things may seem, God always has a perfect plan for my life. I have turned to that verse so many times in my life when things have been uncertain and each time I read it, I feel such a sense of peace. Josh wrote Romans 8:28, which has kind of been his life verse. Just like me, it always lets him know that God has a perfect plan for his life no matter what is going on in the world around him.

I am so glad that Dan had us write the scripture verses in the sanctuary today. When we go in there for the first time once the renovation is complete, we will be standing on the words of God...and nothing is stronger than that!