Saturday, April 26, 2008

Growing like a weed!





Wow!  What an amazing two weeks we have had around the house.  We have seen our little one accomplish so many of the major "milestones" for his age.  In just one week he began crawling.  He still choses to army crawl a good bit but just to know Eli can really crawl is awesome!  Eli has also started pulling up to standing on items around the house and self-feeding!  Yea!!!  We had been working hard on the self-feeding and just one night when he was home with Daddy, he just got it.  Jeff also says he said his first word "ball".  I haven't heard it but I wouldn't be surprised because he is really into chasing this little jingly ball around the house these days.  Then just last night Eli finally became comfortable enough in the bath tub to actually have some fun.  The bath tub has been quite a challenge for us because for the first 10 months all he wanted to do was lay on his back and make a splash.  We went from back to sitting up and now to swimming and playing in the tub!    

These past two weeks have reminded me again how much I love being a mom.  Being a parent is truly the most amazing role I could ever imagine.  Most of the time Eli's accomplishments come from nothing we have done but just click into action at the Lord's appointed time.  It just truly reminds me of the verses we have claimed for Eli since he was in the womb Ps 139:13-16.  How amazing that not only does God make each of us 'fearfully and wonderfully', individually and carefully, but he also appoints each event in our lives, even my little Eli's milestone moments.  At the close of each service of Life Church in OKC the pastor will say "God is good all the time" and the congregation repeats "And all the time God is good."  I could not say it any better than that.  I praised God with those words the day Eli was born and will continue to praise him for God is truly Good!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

More Spring Break Pics





Spring Break Pic





Spring Break 2008

Well, we have had a busy few weeks.  The Santa Rosa school system was on Spring Break the week of March 31- April 4.  During that week Eli and were two busy people.  It all started with a visit from my sister Mandy and her husband Jon.  They came down for a weekend with us and then headed over to Orange Beach for a week.  We kept Tucker their dog while she vacationed and he was in meetings.  That week Eli went to the zoo for the first time with some friends.  The Northwest Florida Zoo isn't the fanciest zoo around but good enough for a 10 month old.  You actually get pretty close to the animals at the NW FL zoo sometimes maybe a little too close as some of our friends have had interesting experiences there.  One friend had a gorilla throw a small tree branch at the train as they rode through the so called "santuary" while another friend's husband was sprayed with scent by the male tiger.  We saw gorillas, tigers, bears, alligators, hippos, and tons of monkeys, birds and other animals.  The peacocks were amazing and would walk right up to you with their feathers on display.  It was funny to watch Eli and his friend Ashley(three weeks younger than Eli).  They had a hard time focusing on the animals for all the leaves and plants.  They were really cute though and it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.  The next day we headed down to the beach with Ashley and Eli's friend Jackson for a little picnic.  It wasn't the sunniest day at the beach but it was fun to watch the three of them and their reactions to sand, waves and each other.  Eli is slowly warming up to the sand but is still not crazy about the waves.  Then on Thursday we went and visited with Aunt Mandy in Orange Beach.  It was a day for fun in the sun.  It was beautiful and we enjoyed spending time with Mandy and some new friends that Eli met.  We soaked up some rays and played in the sand a little but mostly lounged around.  Finally, on Friday Eli's Mimi (Jeff's mom Bettie) came down for a visit.  Eli had lots of fun while Mimi was here.  They played and strolled and talked and laughed.  We made it to the beach once while Mimi was here for a short visit.  We took Eli's baby pool just to see if he would get in but he let us know he's not ready for that yet.  Bettie stayed with us until Wednesday morning and her visit allowed me to finally get the living room painted.  Yea!  It took me a full week to do but I am so pleased with the outcome.  We enjoyed Mimi and can't wait for Eli's other g-parents to visit us too!  Well that's about it for our Spring Break.

As far as Eli's accomplishments...he has started to pull up to his knees and is finally getting up on his hands and knees in a real crawling position.  He has also taken a few wobbly steps with aid of his walker and he is learning to self-feed.  He hasn't got it yet but he's close!  He seems to be doing great otherwise and I am praying he is gaining weight at least an oz or two.  I'll post pics from our Spring Break in a separate post.