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!

Temporary Confinement

What do you do when you need to get ready for church, your child doesn't want to play on his own, and he won't take a nap? Find an empty laundry basket, of course! It worked for us this morning :) Eli seemed to enjoy his temporary jail cell, especially when Mommy or Daddy zoomed him down the hallway. Plus, it gave me about 5 minutes to do my hair before he decided he was ready for his Get Out of Jail Free card :)