Eli's Dedication

Last Sunday we dedicated our sweet boy to the Lord! Our prayer is that he always love the Lord and follow His plan throughout his life. Eli was a little on edge after hearing the praise band practice loudly just before the service, but he did great! He even let the pastor hold him during the prayer! What a big boy! Our families were there for the occasion. Here are the pics!

In front of the church.

Pastor Gary praying for our boy!

Smiling at Eli...he got a little talky right at the end.

Eli being a happy boy in his high chair at Macaroni Grill!

Eli goofing off with Uncle Chris, Aunt Carrie (almost anyway,) and Uncle Keith.

Meemie and her boy!

Me, my mom, and my sisters!

Me and my Dad!

Eli and Aunt Meredith...the only blondes! :)

Eli & Mommy!

10 Months Old!

Well, here we are at month 10 and Eli's personality is showing through more everyday! He is such a silly and happy boy! He LOVES to be outside and loves to go to new places. He is so interested in his surroundings and wants to explore everything he can get his little grubby hands his precious chubby hands on. :) He has 5 teeth and eats just about anything we give him. He really loves yogurt, blueberries, steamed veggies, and, of course, Cheerios! We have so much fun with him and can't believe we are only two short months from having a one year old!
Here's our sweet boy playing outside with Daddy!

Video Overload!

Eli is doing so many new things every day it is hard to keep track! He started "cruising" a few weeks ago. I've just been slow in getting the videos up. We started out using the remote as bait, just like when he started crawling. Now he cruises all around the kitchen too.

Eli can also wave bye bye, when he decides he wants to. This is the best video of him waving bye bye I've been able to get so far. As you can see, he does two little waves at the very beginning and decides to ignore me the rest of the time. :)

Eli got a new toy from Aunt Liz today and he LOVES it! Watch him "walk" with his little push toy. This was only his second try.

This is after practicing all afternoon. He is getting better already! He also started letting go for a little while and standing on his own. He is getting to be such a big boy!

Curly Head Boy!

Eli's still doesn't have very much hair, but the little bit that has grown in the back is starting to curl up, just like his Daddy! I can't wait for him to get more of it!

Couldn't you just eat him up???

Home Improvements

There are a lot of things that Stephen and I always talk about wanting to change around our house. We finally got most of it painted last summer before Eli came, but there is still much to do. Stephen decided on a whim last week that he was ready to redo the flower bed out front (and I use the term "flower bed" loosely.) It was really just some bushes that the builder put in three years ago that grow WAY to big for the space they were in. I didn't get to take a picture before Stephen started ripping the bushes out, but here are the bushes sitting in our yard after the slaughter.

Before:

Stephen did a great job getting the new, much smaller bushes in and we even got some flowers! What a great husband!

After:

We also finally got some curtains up in the family room! So embarrassing that it took us three years to do this!! Please excuse all the toys...they have taken over the room.

Before:

After:

Who's Got Teeth??

I do, I do!! I've got two on top and two on bottom...and Mommy says she sees another one coming in on top! It's hard to get a picture of them so look closely!

Mother's Day!

Mother's Day has been wonderful! Today was my day to help in the nursery at church. I am actually in Eli's room until he moves up, which I think will be soon. We only had 8 babies today, which was less than the 13 we had on Easter Sunday, but we had a few more fussy ones today (who made the non-fussy ones fussy as well.) After church we picked up fajitas and went home to have lunch with Stephen's family. The fajitas were very good and we had great ice cream cake to top it off! Then the best thing ever...NAP!!! :) It was a short one, but a short nap is better than no nap at all (and they are getting fewer and farther between all the time!) What a great first Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day to my mom, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and all my mommy friends!

Eli made me this card at school. Do we have a cute boy or what??

This is Eli and Mommy in the hospital the day after he was born nine and a half months ago.

This is Eli & Mommy today. My little baby is getting to be a big boy!

This is the Mother's Day onesie that Eli picked out to surprise me with and wear today (with Daddy's help of course!) It says "Mommy loves me!"

Big smiles for Mommy!

"What was that??" :)

Sweet boy!

I want to be just like Daddy!

Too tired to eat...