Hodges Beach Trip 2008

We're fresh back from our first Hodges family vacation since the arrival of the babies and we had a great time.  It was so fun spending time with Mimi, Papa, Uncle Jason, Aunt Ali and Caroline.  This is the first chance that we've had to really get to know Caroline and it was so great!  She has an amazing personality.  So sweet and talkative, helpful and obedient and fearless as her mommy has labeled her.  She was all about the ocean, sand and pool with literally no fear.  Eli is a different story...

Our trip started out great as we flew from Pensacola to Atlanta to Daytona on Tuesday July 1.  Eli was awesome on both flights and Jeff was equally as awesome keeping our little one happy and calm.  As I stated earlier Eli is not fearless when it comes to the water.  I thought we were making progress since we've had a couple of pleasant experiences hear on the gulf lately but we'll get there.  He actually is fine in the water as long as you are holding him or entertaining him but don't even think about putting him in the water on his own.  Also, Eli's second tooth finally broke through while we were away and all I can say is its about time. 

I wanted to say a special thank you to Mimi and Papa for watching Eli and just being such a great help.  We were able to relax and play and just have a great time; in fact, while we were gone Jeff and I got to have to grown up dinners out which we never do and it was soooo nice!  Hope you enjoy the pics of our family vacation.

12+ Mos

Wow, last week was the hardest week of my young motherhood.  Eli was such a crank!  He was fussy, squirmy, hard to console, like I said before cranky and really just difficult!  Mealtime which usually goes okay was a royal battle and he cried for an hour at the gym and did not sleep well at all.  I cried two or three times  last week just because I didn't know what to do.  It was just hard....and then Jeff got sick and it got even harder.  I kept thinking maybe a tooth is coming in so I gave him Tylenol and Motrin but here we are a week later and no tooth.  Looking back I think he must have been sick with the cold that took his daddy out of commission for a few days but he still needs to listen and follow directions.  Thankfully, that week ended and a new week began and while we still struggle with some things for the most part my precious little Eli is back.  Actually, making it through this rough patch makes me  feel like an official mom and opened the door for some reflection.

Watching my child be his natural self really reminded me of human nature or sin nature.  It really makes me think about the love that God has for us His children and what an amazing love it is.  For example, Eli has been hitting lately and we wondered where he picked up this nasty little habit.  Well, I don't think he learned it from anyone it is just how we are as humans.  Naturally we are disobedient and want to push the limits and for some reason God loves us in spite of our humanity and in spite of our disobedience.  He wants a relationship with us so much He gave His perfect son to atone for our sinful nature.  He always wants more for us and longs for obedience from us.  He longs for obedience from us because he knows what's best.  This is exactly how I feel about Eli.  I want him to obey for his own benefit now and down the road.  I have been praying with him about choosing to obey and praying for Jeff and I as we teach and train Eli to love the Lord.  So after a week of pain I just feel renewed.  I know it is a long, hard road ahead but I am trusting the Lord for wisdom and joy as I parent Eli everyday.

These are a few of my favorite things....

Just wanted to let you all know what Eli's favorite things are...at least right now.  He is currently enjoying self-feeding and doing it well.  He loves Blitz and has learned out to pet not hit and often tries to share Blitzie's bed.  Eli is so proud that he can pull up and is doing it all over the house.  He has always loved to toss his toys wherever he goes and now he can do it on tables, bookshelves, chairs and whatever else he can pull up on.  He is now cruising around furniture and doing a great job.  It is so exciting to watch him learn and grow.  Eli also loves giving kisses, giving smiles, making messes and playing with his books and toys.  So these are a few of Eli's most favorite things and they manage to keep us pretty busy too! 

I think I also failed to mention that right before he turned one he finally got his first tooth and I think based on the drool and chew fascination that tooth number two may not be far behind.  Yea!!!  Hope you enjoy the cute pics of our little man.

Happy Birthday to You!

On May 24, 2008 we celebrated Eli's first birthday.  I am still is disbelief that a whole year has passed, it seems that just yesterday we were bringing our beautiful boy home from the hospital.  We had a great party!  Lots of food, family, fun and work.  I still can't believe how much work a goes into a birthday party.  We would like to say a special thanks to Mimi and Papa who let us borrow their house for the celebration.  We also want to tell everyone who came thank you for making Eli's party extra special and for all the wonderful gifts.  He has already enjoyed playing with all of his new things.  There are way too many thoughts about the party for me to jot them all down so I thought I would let pictures do the talking.  Thank you Shannon, Mandy and Jon for all the great shots!

Reflections

For the last two days I have reflected on being a mom and what that means to me.  I had a wonderful day yesterday.  I actually had a wonderful day Saturday too which is when we chose to "celebrate" Mother's Day.  But since yesterday was the actual day on the calendar the celebration kind of carried over.  I woke up yesterday to my precious husband and son wishing me a Happy Mother's Day.  It was wonderful first of all not to be the first one up but also to see those beautiful faces smiling down at me what a gift!  So we headed off to church and I enjoyed many "Happy Mother's Day" comments from friends at church and returned the greeting many times too but I wasn't really struck by the weight of it until we were asked to stand up if we were a mom.  Now I got to participate in this little tradition last year since I was very pregnant but it was different this year.  I kind of hesitated before standing and then when we sat back down I turned to Jeff and make the comment, "That was weird."  I mean I often have those moments when I am going about my day and the thought just hits me that I'm a mom.  I normally shake my head and smile at the thought, amused that I am still surprised by my role.  Well yesterday I couldn't really shake the thought since the whole service was about being a mom.

During the service yesterday our pastor and his wife discussed the different aspects of being a mom and of course one of those is responsibility.  This is the part of being a mom that I seem to get lost in sometimes...all of my responsibilities.  I get lost in my chores around the house, my schedule for Eli, preparing his meals, preparing our meals, making sure I am teaching Eli all he needs to learn and exposing him to all he should be exposed to and then not exposing him to negative things.  Sometimes these responsibilities become more of a burden and can start to weigh me down which usually gets taken out on Jeff.  So mom's have responsibilities and lots of them but I was reminded that if I am walking close to the Lord then all of those responsibilities fall into place.  Challenge to self:  stay close to the Lord, walk with him daily, cast my cares on him.

The other aspect of motherhood discussed  yesterday was opportunity.  This is the aspect I tend to overlook.  I mean there are days when I marvel in the wonder of being a mom and am amazed by how Eli just grows and changes and just knows how to do things I know I didn't teach him.  The opportunities God has given me actually balance the responsibilities God has given me.   I mean God has given me this wonderful opportunity to watch his miracles everyday.  He's given me the opportunity to make a real impact on society through the life of my little one.  He's has given me the opportunity to be used by him to train Eli in "the way he should go"  not my way but the way God has chosen for Eli.  This has definitely changed my perspective on the day to day responsibilities.  Yes I am sure they will still get mundane at times and frustrating but my prayer is that I will view them as opportunities.  I have been given the opportunity along with my husband to love and raise this beautiful little boy who has the most wonderful personality.  I pray that we will teach him to love and serve the Lord.  I pray that we will take each opportunity everyday to let him know he is loved and that God has a purpose for him.  I pray that one day we will have the opportunity to pray with him as he begins the journey of a Christ Follower.  Being a mom can be overwhelming sometimes but just as often as it is overwhelmingly hard it is overwhelmingly wonderful.  

I love you Eli...more than you know!

Big Boy Fun

We had a great time visiting with our families last week.  It is always bittersweet to come back home to Pace;  sad to leave but nice to get back to our routine.  We won't be crying long because we'll see them again in two weeks when we head north for Eli's One year b-day party!!!

Above are pics of Eli doing two big boy activities: eating and playing.  He loves playing at the park and good thing since its free!

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!