Our Little Fish!

Mark and I decided to take Eli for his first official swim in our neighborhood pool this afternoon. We weren't quite sure how he would react to the water and all of the people there swimming. The boy does really seem to love his bath time (except for the getting cold/dressed part afterwards), so we figured our odds of success weren't too bad.

Here's Eli and Daddy, geared up and ready to go for a swim...


Needless to say, our worries were completely blown away in the first few seconds of Eli's pool experience. He LOVED it! Mark took him right in and he was immediately smiling and giggling as they swam together. I think it helped that the water was pretty warm since it's been so HOT here recently. After taking a few pics, I was able to join in on the fun. Eli especially loved to splash with his hands and kick his little feet in the water. It was adorable to watch, and we are both so proud of our Water Baby!






Gotta have some post-swim cuddle-time!




Our little guy was pretty tired by the time we walked home. (See thumb in mouth)



I'm definitely looking forward to many more family times at the pool this summer!


(Sidenote: I just realized that Eli is sucking his thumb in many of our pool pictures...too funny! The boy LOVES his thumb!)

Phew!

We had a pretty full schedule of family and celebrations this past weekend. My parents came in late Friday evening to spend the night before we headed to Winston-Salem to celebrate the birthdays of our two oldest nephews, Jacob and Isaac. Mark was even able to have the entire weekend off to join in on the fun! On Saturday, we celebrated Jacob's 10th Birthday. I can't believe he's already in the double-digits! Unfortunately, Mark, Eli, and I were unable to make it to his actual party earlier that morning, due to a little confusion about the time, but we did spend the rest of the day just enjoying some time to hang-out with the family.

Caleb and Bekah helped feed Eli his lunch...





We went to feed some goats that live in the neighborhood.






Eli napped with Grandma while we played outside. This is their newest dog Fresco...he's not even 2 pounds! We think Candy might try to eat him if they met!



Grandma snuck Elijah a taste of pink lemonade cake, but the evidence was all over his face! He loved it!



Eli wanted to feel the wind in his comb-over riding in Grandaddy's convertible!




(I just realized that we didn't get ANY pics with Jakes in them. I promise he was there and we did hang-out with him. He is just so hard to get on film and was pretty focused on building his new Lego sets! It's amazing to watch him go through the process of building those things! I'll have to steal some of my brothers pics to share!)


On Sunday, we drove back out to W-S to celebrate Isaac's 7th Birthday a few days early. Since his favorite place to eat is Moe's, we met everyone there after church for some yummy food and balloon animal fun. (There's a really nice guy there every Sunday who makes balloon animals/creations for all of the kids...which they love!) After lunch, we went back to the house to open presents and eat some cake and ice cream. Again, I'm in disbelief at how quickly these little guys are growing up! It seems like only yesterday they were Eli's age!

My older brother, Rick, made Isaac's awesome Buzz Light Year spaceship cake!




On a different note, Eli started to show signs of congestion with a pretty bad cough on Saturday, which progressively got worse on Sunday and Monday. Thankfully, it looks like he is on the mend. We're ready to get him all better so he can play with friends and go swimming at the pool. With the ridiculously hot and humid weather we've been having lately there is no doubt that summer is definitely here to stay!

No fun!

Well, in the interest of chronicling the life of our little guy, I have to include the not so fun moments. Last Wednesday evening, Eli came down with his first fever. Being that it had been 8 months without one, I knew this day was going to come soon. He was running a temperature of 103 which we attempted to lower with some meds. However, when we woke him up at the 4-hour mark to see how he was doing, the fever had not budged. We had been in conversation with Mark's dad (who's a doctor) and we decided that maybe we should get him checked-out at the ER just in case. (He had been coughing a little bit as well.) Long story short, we spent the wee hours of the morning at Duke's ER. And would you know it, our little stinker didn't even have a fever when we got there! Some of the Motrin we had given him must've taken affect before we left...even though most of it had come back up on me! We were seen by a Resident and her supervising doctor and both were super sweet and didn't make us feel like complete dorks for bringing him in. His ears, throat, and lungs seemed to be fine, so it was determined he probably had something viral that he might be fighting for the next few days. Thankfully, he slept well that evening. We were all pretty exhausted!

Eli spent the next day pulling a fever between 102-103, but it finally broke at around 10:00 Thursday evening. After that, he was fever-free and beginning to act more like his normal self. I must say that it killed us to see him feeling so cruddy. We were more than ready to get our smiley little Eli back. The whole experience just made us even more thankful that we have been blessed with a normally healthy baby boy.


He's still cute...even when he's sick! This picture was actually taken the night we ended up at the ER. You would've never known he had a fever of 103 degrees!

The Two Sides of Eli

Playing...






Recharging...



Ahhh, the life an 8-month-old.



One more thing...we are eagerly awaiting the delivery of this today...




Can't wait to take some better quality pics of our little cutie!

8-Months-Old!

Yet another month has flown by and our little Eli is growing and changing with each day. The past month was full of new experiences and fun. Here are the details...

*As of this past Wednesday (5/12), Eli weighed a whopping 18 pounds 2 ounces! He had gained a little over a pound in a month! I am so thankful that things are going so well in this area.

* He's solidly fitting into 9-month clothes now and size 3 diapers. All of his newborn to 6-month clothes were finally packed-up this past week. We needed more room in his dresser! (Honestly though, I kind of kept putting it off...didn't want to come to grips that my baby was growing up so quickly!)

* Elijah's two top teeth are just waiting to break though his gums. He has been gnawing on his hands a LOT recently and the drool has been flowing.

* He continues to love his purees at mealtimes. He eats 3 meals of solids along with his regular nursing sessions. I think he's starting to not care for peas and green beans as much though. Can't blame him...the fruits are pretty tasty! I've also been trying to give him some puffs every now and then on his highchair tray, but he still acts as if they taste horrible if they get even close to his mouth. We think it's a texture thing. Mark tried to give him a Cheerio today and he gave the same reaction.

* Speaking of nursing, Eli continues to be VERY distracted and wiggly, even when we are all alone in a quiet room. I would love to continue nursing him to one year of age, but I don't know if that's going to happen. Thankfully, he will take formula if necessary, so that is an option we have for the future.

* Changing diapers and dressing our little guy is quite the challenge these days. Eli has a tendency to flip onto his stomach while on the changing table, so Mark and I are employing every distracting tactic we can during these times.

* These days, Eli is a champion roller. He can pretty much pivot and roll to anything he wants on the floor. This new-found mobility is already keeping Mommy and Daddy on their toes! In the past week, he has begun to bear his weight on his hands and knees in a "crawl position" but still has a ways to go in coordinating their movement together.

* He continues to work on his sitting skills. He's getting closer to being able to do it on his own, but will oftentimes be too interested in something else nearby and loose his balance trying to reach it. I have a feeling that Eli will be sitting without support very soon.

* Eli started saying "Dada" while we were at the beach...just in time for Mother's Day! I just tell Mark that whoever he calls for has to go get him. Ha!

* He loves to go on family walks in the evening, especially when he can ride in the pack on his daddy's back. I really think that being outside in the fresh air, being able to just observe nature, is relaxing for him.

* Eli is babbling up a storm these days. He has already mastered b, g, d, and sometimes m. Oftentimes, he'll babble even more when he's upset about something.

* He has recently started to reach for us when we are nearby. Love it!

* He saw, felt, and heard the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. I think we have a definite Beach Baby on our hands!

* He attended his 3rd wedding and 1st funeral.

* Eli also got sick for the first time while we were at the beach. He just had some congestion and a little bout of conjunctivitis. Thankfully, his pediatrician hooked us up with some medicine for his eyes when we returned home and he is now back to fighting form.

* He loves to play peek-a-boo with his mommy and daddy. He'll just bust out in a fit of squeals and giggles!

*One last thing I cannot forget...Elijah LOVES the ladies. It doesn't matter who or where, if there is a female around, Eli will find her and flash his mega-watt grin. I keep telling him that the only girl for him (for the next 18 years) is his Mama, but that doesn't seem to be sinking in.

Eli's eighth month has truly been a delight for Mark and I. His personality continues to come out more and more each day and we just can't get enough of the sweet smiles he flashes our way. The joy he exudes is just so contagious and we love it! What a precious gift our son is to us!

Beach Vacation #1

We spent the first week of May soaking up the rays at Topsail, North Carolina. Our trip began with the celebration of Mark's cousin's wedding in Wilmington. This was Eli's third wedding and things were so different this time around. During his first two wedding appearances in early January, he was barely 4-months-old and slept through both ceremonies. Fast forward to 4 months later and our plan-of-attack for the ceremony was slightly altered, since we now have a very vocal and somewhat mobile little guy. Suffice it to say, Eli made it through the bride walking down the aisle and that was about it. (Our experience made me appreciate our weekly church nursery workers even more!) The reception was held at the Duplin Winery, which Mark and I were totally excited about, since we LOVE their wine. Everything was beautiful and we had a wonderful time.


Got to start the party off right!


(No, we did NOT give our son even the tiniest sip of our yummy Duplin wine...this was just a photo-op we could not pass up!)





Eli was given a cute little goodie-bag at the reception, complete with this hilarious bib he's wearing that said: "Pass me another bottle...it's a wedding!"







We were invited to spend the week following the wedding in a rented ocean-front house, so that is just what we did. Eli was able to experience many firsts during our time there. He saw and felt the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Growing-up on the east coast of Virginia, I was beyond excited for this moment! He didn't seem to mind having his feet in the wet sand, but the tiny waves made him a little uneasy. However, the sound of the waves seemed to be very calming to him, as he would frequently fall asleep while we were outside walking along the ocean's edge or swinging on the porch. I think one of my favorite memories of our stay was when I took Eli for a walk along the beachfront in the Ergo carrier and he was all snuggled-up asleep on my chest. It was just a sweet time with my little guy, just soaking in the sights and sounds of God's beautiful creation.

Unfortunately, Elijah also got his first cold while we there. I hated hearing him so stuffed-up! Lastly, he attended his first funeral on Thursday of our trip. Mark's Grandfather (who lived in the area where we were staying) passed away earlier in the week. It was not unexpected but the loss of a family member is never an easy thing. We were so thankful to be able to be there for his memorial service.

Overall, it was quite a full trip but a good time for us to escape "real life" for a short while and enjoy some much-needed time together as a family. We're looking forward to the adventures of our next beach vacation with my family in July!

It's Official!

Yesterday, I celebrated my first official Mother's Day. Last year, I was a pregnant mommy, but it's so different to be able to snuggle with our sweet boy this time around. We kept things pretty low-key, as we had just returned (on Friday) from a week at the beach and all of us are still recovering from a bout of a nasty cold-like illness.

On this Mother's Day, I wanted to reflect upon some of my thoughts on this new journey of motherhood.

Growing up, I've always wanted to be a mom. Being one of 4 children, it was just a natural desire in my heart to one day have a family of my own. When we found out on January 10th of last year that we would soon become parents, my initial reaction was an anxious and fearful excitement. Would I be able to provide for this precious baby when he arrived? I had grown-up around lots of kids, but this one would actually be mine!

On September 14th, 2009 our sweet Elijah joined our family and my whole world changed. No longer were my needs at the forefront of my mind. I was the mom of a little person who needed me more than I could imagine and give just as much back. A piece of my heart was now in a tangible form...a babbling, pooping, peeing, wriggling, and smiling little person.

Almost 8 months later, I am still growing as a mom and savoring every single minute of my new position. It is my daily prayer that God will use me (and Mark) to share the truth of His love with Eli, just as my parents did for me. What a daunting task as parents, but what a wonderful calling it is.