It's been a while since I blogged, but so much has been happening in little Eli's life! After the visit from his cousin Madelyn, Eli dabbled in the art of card playing and enjoyed sitting on the kitchen bar, which is only clean every other blue moon!

This past weekend we took a trip to see Grammy! Eli's first plane ride and he was most excellent. Now while being one of the chosen few in the pre-board line is quite exciting, I can't decide if it is worth all the suspicious stares and whispers from the other passengers as they roll their eyes and cross their fingers he won't cry! He turned out to be a pro at flying and promptly went to sleep during the two hour delay and remained asleep the entire flight! It was well worth it and Eli loved meeting his family and they loved him.

Here he is with his great-great grandma who has two great-great grandkids! ...

here are all the boys....aren't they cute ...

great-great Mary... whom Eli finds quite hilarious ...

and cousin Drew!

I just like this picture of my boys:

Someone once told me (or I am just making this up) that having children gives you special insight into how God might view us big kids. I was reflecting on that as I was bouncing and be-bopping around with a screaming Eli in the middle of the night marvelling at just how much patience a parent needs (and I do not have!) I wonder how many times a day God tells me to calm down and listen to him and I just keep screaming my head off....

 

Eli is getting a whole lot more leg and head control, I just can't believe it! He is now playing in some more of his toys and focusing on hand control. His favorite toy today was the smiling sunshine flower. He studied it for a really long time and then started uncontrollably grinning at it.

Later during naptime he surprised me with the crawl position:

Now, if he could only work on that when he is awake!

Weigh-in: about 14.4 lbs.
Disposition: supremely happy one moment and utterly distressed the next. It is exhausting, but lovely just the same.
Favorite activity: looking in mirrors

I found out that my son will be two years old before our Benedryl expires....that's weird.

Countdown to first airplane ride: 15 days

We are headed to see Grammy and what Fall looks like!

Madelyn and Eli meet!

Something you shouldn't do while holding Eli: Try to answer the questions of an automated voice menu on the phone.

Invariably coo, ooh, and aaaaaahhhh are NOT choices the automated voice understands. Thus, you will be repeatedly forced to start over and over and over.

I think he was trying to eat that bug on his head.

This was taken in a park in the middle of Houston...nice, huh?!

The beautiful crib! More to come when we get the room cleaned up...

Eli Swimming

Just don't laugh too hard at our "baby talk"!!!

Eli is getting to be such a big boy! He likes to wake up really early to eat and then go back to sleep. Daddy had snuck in while I was sleeping and set up this little photo opportunity:

This past Thursday was his two month birthday! I can't believe how fast the time is going! Everything checked out great at the doctor. He is taller than the average bear:

But with a "petit" head. The doctor assured us that that is no problem at all, since his brain is still growing. Everyone was wondering how he had such a round head even though he was born "the regular way." Answer: little head. He also had to get 5 shots! In the end, Eli did better than his mommy, but his poor little legs were sore for a while. Someone out there should fine a better way to deliver vaccines....needles are too sharp!

 

Each day since Eli has started smiling, he has developed an increasing awareness of his face and the fact that we have faces too! Not only does this lead to some of the cutest faces I have ever seen, but it also lets me distract him. When he starts to get fussy, it is sometimes possible to make him reconsider when I contort my face into something silly and speak in an abnormally high voice. When I throw in some french, his eyebrows shoot off his head as he tries to understand..."Ecoute mon cher, ne crie pas, mon petit elephant!" His favorite face to make uses as many facial muscles as he can: he raises his eyebrows, crosses his eyes, flares his nostrils, and squishes his lips like he wants to whistle. I'll give you a minute to try it out.

Of course, throughout the course of a day we get many variations of "the face," for example:

Along with the smiling and the faces has come the cooing. So far I have heard coos that resemble the following sounds: Kapowie! Grrrr! Uh Uh! (as in No way!) and Moooooom! (as in how he would say it when I show this picture to his first girlfriend.)

And finally we have Eli striking a vogue pose as he models his pants and socks. He hardly ever gets a chance to wear them in the heat, but the church nursery is cold!

 

My mommy thought it would be fun to take me swimming....hrmpf!

It only took a few minutes for him to get used to the water and then he was splashing and kicking his legs!

Over Labor day we went to grandpa lake's house with Jake, Erin and Battlecat. Eli is getting used to long car rides I think, although the trip takes longer when he gets hungry every two hours! The lake house is the game house and everyone had a turn at "Calm the Crying Baby."

Here's grandpa taking his turn.

After a rousing game of Balderdash, Eli was wiped out and quickly fell asleep on his daddy's shoulder.

To make a long story short...

10 runs scored in 9 baseball innings when an 8th inning rally gave them a 7 run lead. There was a 6th inning engagement and 5 dollar parking that let 4 Astros fans call 3 strikes you're out. Eli had 2 screaming sessions but his daddy caught him 1 foul ball!

The weirdest part was when a guy came up to me after we won and told me, "His daddy caught him a ball!" I had been standing at the back holding a finally quiet Eli and didn't really believe this guy until I saw Jase with the ball!

Oh yeah, Eli's just cute.

My mommy got a new haircut! I'm not sure what to think...

I guess it is still my mommy afterall...

 

We got a package yesterday from Pam. She made Eli a great blanket with Snoopy on it and it came with bandanas for the dogs! All evening they pranced around showing them off.

Eli has started smiling at us! I have been trying to get a picture of it, and I'm getting close...

Eli is trying to be like Daddy!

Last night he snuggled with Trolley while Daddy snuggled Tank.

Then he wanted to sleep in Daddy's spot. He even left one leg outside the covers.

Later, he tried on Daddy's shorts. Even with all his stretching they were still too big!

I told him he should stay my little boy as long as he can.

Eli in the car on the way to the lake...



Eli at the lake...


Eli on the way home from the lake...


He's upset because he slept through the lake! Ok, so not really. He practiced his smile, his cry, and his mad Rummikub skills.
 

A future hall-of-famer? Who knows, but definitely a baseball fan! We had a great time at the game last night, even if we still couldn't win after 18 innings (we did not stay until the end!). Here he is waving to the camera from the cheap seats. What a view!


Rally caps are worn to help your team turn the game around. Eli and Jake were sporting rally caps in the third inning, not a good sign.


Eli made more than a few women glad they came to the game! As always, Eli and his hat were a big hit. (no pun intended)

Happy one month birthday to Eli!! He was a little camera shy though...but look at those legs!

He has started smiling now. His favorite times to smile are when he is sleeping. My mom told me that her grandmother (my mom-mom) told her that babies talked with their angels in their sleep, and that's why they smile. It makes me smile to watch him. His second favorite time to smile is after a nice big poop works it's way out after a tense crying bout. We just hold him and wait for the smile, knowing that someday we will be able to bring as much joy to his face as a good poop!

For the moment, this is as close as we get...

The pre-poop grimace...Jase was just trying to help Eli out...

Last night was Eli's first real bath! The new little tub worked out great, and Eli appears to be quite the water bug. We started with just his feet which made his eyebrows shoot straight up, but no screaming (which I was anticipating). We sat him down in the water and he immediately started kicking his legs and moving his arms. Not quite the doggie paddle, but darn close!

Three weeks old tomorrow! I can't believe it. We've had our first doctor's appointment, a visit to the office, and a new belly button. He's been a busy little guy!

His two week check-up was perfect. The doctor couldn't find a thing wrong with him. We've been very blessed with him. We did however go through all the diapers in the diaper bag as well as the extra outfit and blanket. He managed to pee and spit up all over the examing table and ended up in just his diaper wrapped in his burpee (a cloth diaper) when the doctor came in. I can't imagine what he thought about us as parents! He did manage to get dressed again to leave. The doctor gave him a cool t-shirt too (maybe he thought we didn't buy him clothes! ;) )

Everyone at the office thought he was just precious. He showed off all his wiggles and his great sleeping ability.

This morning was pretty hilarious, unfortunately it is probably a "you had to be there" moment, but we'll try anyway. Grammy was holding him after he ate when he started wiggling around on her shoulder. She stood up to put him in his swing when something fell from her lap. We had no idea what it was, but it was kinda loud when it landed on the floor. She puts him down to look for what fell, when I hear her start laughing. It was his umbilicial stump, but she didn't know it right away. In fact, she was half way across the room to show me before she said "I know what it is!" Told you...you had to be there. The point is, he has an "innie" and this was the only possible thing that could have made him cuter...and it did! I'm excited about giving him real baths now...no more spong baths...he might not be as excited though!

Here he is with daddy. Perhaps we'll show off his belly button a little later.

Baseball runs in the family, we'll just have to wait and see if he really grows into that hat! He sure is a cutie though. We drove down to Galveston for a day trip through lots of rain but had a good time eating and walking the seawall.

Tank is learning how to deal with Eli around. He needs to sniff him each morning to make sure we didn't trade him in for another one! (I've taken to calling him pokey nose) He's finally getting the hang of sharing our laps. We taught him not to stand up on the bassinet, so he doesn't put his feet on it, he just hovers on his two back legs until he loses his balance. Trolley still acts like a little protectice mommy and alerts us when he sneezes, cries, or moves. She even lays in front of his swing in case he falls out. They are good with him though, so no doggie worries.

Play Ball!

Eli's First Vacation