Time For Change...

Dear Elijah,
It was a Time for Change Fitness weekend and much much more... Your daddy finished his recipe/exercise booklet, and it came out really great! I am so so so proud of him, and how he put so much into this product. You were super patient with daddy for the past week while he pressed into his work full force to tie it all up! You, daddy and mommy went out this past Saturday to "Light at the Light House" which is a Christian festival with bands and lots of fun stuff :) Your daddy had a fitness booth, and you and I went out to support him. He is so passionate about what he does, and I really hope you inherit that from him :) It's a great way to be. Plus, he lets us be super involved in everything he does. It's so fun to go out and do stuff like that as a family. You pretty much go everywhere we go... This past week I thought of am AWESOME tradition we are going to be starting to do as a family! Gosh it gets me so excited when I come up with things like that since I know family time is so important, and will mean so much when your older. It's a Christmas tradition having to do with Christmas morning ;) You'll find out what it is eventually. Also, we are starting worship time with you before bed. This just started because daddy finally got some small drums to play at home, and mommy tuned her dusty guitar :) W are really excited about it though, and pray that it will be a tradition we will keep and share forever.
Your uncle C.J. came over to visit the other day and we got to talking about all the games we made up as kids, and how much fun they were! He reminded me of "the VO vo lady!!!" When your mommy (me) was little I used to just be sitting in a room with my brother and sister and all of a sudden start saying very softly at first... "Vo vo, Vo vo, Vo vo..." and they would just take off running as I yelled louder, "VO VO, VO VO, VO VO, VO VO!!!" Hence, I was the Vovo Lady ;) One of our silly games. But only I could ever be the Vo Vo Lady... True story... Anyway, then we had other games we made up called, Bull Dog, Slap Feet, Say Hello to the Spider and so on and so forth...  I am really hoping you too make up your own funny games, and have as much fun as we did, and MORE! :)

By the way you were sang to this past weekend by a lady who said that she wrote children songs... The lyrics went something like this, and I'm being very serious here... The title is : Autumn Leaves... "(in no particular tune) the reluctant cook was in the kitchen, and her husband said make me some meat and potatoes, so she went into the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator, and the cupboards. And she found all the ingredients, and so on and so forth. and of course she makes the food, and they eat the food and say how much they like it. and then they say maybe they want some dessert too, and so on and so forth. And she goes outside and theres Autumn Leaves falling. and it's a little bit cold, and she's glad she has a jacket." The end... and yes, the so on and so forth was an actual part of the song.

Today you got to hang out with some fun little girls. We all had so much fun together! I babysat an old friends kids today, and they were so nice with you, always hugging and kissing you. You were loving this time with them because they made you laugh and talk more than usual. I think you were really trying to communicate with them. It was hilarious! You were so into them. They sang to you too! We went to the duck park (Avril Park) and there were geese out from that chased us down! I was like, aaaaaaaaaaah, turn around girls, and run for it! Hahahahahaha. I was pushing you in your stroller, carrying the 2 1/2 year old, and helping the 4 year old run! It was so funny. I was talking so sure of myself, like, "oh, don't worry girls, they won't get to close..." Little did I know... THEY SURE WOULD! The didn;t want us to enter the park that way, so we chose another way ;) Then we all fed the ducks, and walked through the beautiful park singing songs and watching the ducks swim. All of a sudden I pointed out a cute little squirrel. I said, "hey girls, look at that cute little squirrel, isn't he so cute and little." Yeah, not very cute when he comes right up to you seeming as if he was going to crawl up your leg! He literally crawled right up to our feet and the girls immediately crawled up me! They were both in my arms, and I was trying to push the stroller away from the creepy squirrel who was trying to seriously jump into your stroller. That's when me and Stephanie (the 4 year old) concluded, we better go to another park with less animals... So we did, and ended up at Friendship park. That was way better and you liked putting your little feet in the sand and watching the girls play on the toys. Then we went to Yogurt Land for a little bit of Yogurt. Yum! Then off to grandma's house for some fun play time with all the toys she has in the spare room ;) For lunch I packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples, grapes and water. You had milk ;) Oh man Eli, it really was fun, and kind of cool to get a glimps of what having 3 kids might be like. Love you baby boy! By the way... you are into EVERYTHING right now. ou grab anything that's in front of you, and you are so focust on touching everything you can. I have to say, it's a super super super cute stage! I am loving it. I'm getting a little beat up, but it's ok. You pul my hair, slap me in the face, and scratch me, but at least you are motivated right? Heehee ;)

Emergancy Room Blues...

Dear Elijah,

Well, last night was our first trip to the ER! You were acting kind of agitated, and wouldn't go to sleep, and you were fussy, and also you didn't really want to eat. I tried nursing you, and you weren't interested which is not the norm. So I noticed that you did feel warmer than usual to me, and asked your dad to feel your head, and he too said it was hot. So we took your temperature and it was at 101.5 which made me nervous. I have no idea why you would have a fever... You weren't coughing, you weren't throwing up, and your bowel movements were normal. Sorry I just said bowel movements... Anyway, I thought maybe because you might be teething??? But I wasn't sure of that since you have yet to show us anything in that department. Soooooooooo, I was already getting dressed and calling the nurse hot-line, while getting your card and other things together! I was like... "We are going to the ER, because I'm not taking any chances!" Your daddy of course agreed, even though he thought you would be fine. I also knew it might not be anything, but I struggle with going back and forth and figured it's better to be safe. You just looked so miserable. Plus, the nurse did advise us to take you since your doctor was not on call, and we couldn't ask him questions. She said she would take you in. Little did I know, we were taking you to a much more miserable place :/ I walked in, and immediately wanted to hold my breath and spray sanitizer all over. Better yet, a bubble would have been preferable at that moment. I seriously almost felt like a bad mother for taking you there. There were people coughing, hunched over looking green, and I could have sworn there was some questionable stuff on the floor. YUCK! I of course felt bad for these poor people who were sick and needing relief, but on the other hand, I was like, "can you breath in the opposite direction of my baby?" hahaha... So we checked you in at about 12:30am, and waited until about 1:30am... They called you in and weighed you, checked your blood pressure and took your temperature. The good news was that your weight was good, your blood pressure was normal, and your temperature, although still high was coming down. The nurse said her advice would be to give him the right amount of baby Tylenol every 4 hours. You see, we had given you a way low dosage before since it's been a while since you've needed it. We gave you like half of a half of a regular dosage for your weight. So that was good to know. We decided then to get you out of that place, and bring you home, give you the correct amount of medicine, and let you sleep. You finally fell asleep and we took your temperature again, and your fever had gone down! Yay!!! Then you woke up once, ate very well, and your temperature was normal :) That made me happy. You went back to sleep too, which was great! All of our prayers were answered along with the sweet prayers of our friends and family. Your dad and I even got "some" rest, which was good. Today you have been sleeping for a long time. You were up with me for a while, but not super active. You were just laying on me and talking to me. Then your grandpa came over to drop some drums off here for your daddy, and you lit up! You liked the drums, so I put them in front of you and let you play for a while. You were all smiles! You started to feel a little warm to me again, so I gave you a small dose of Tylenol and nursed you to sleep. You have been sleeping since. I think I've checked on you like 20 times! I'm just glad you are getting rest. I made an appointment for you tomorrow with your doctor just to make sure everything is alright. But when I did, they told me you were due for your next round of shots! My heart dropped. They are going to examine you and then give you shots. So if you weren't feeling to bad now, you will be tomorrow. That's so sad!!! You have already had a terrible night, and now you will probably get a fever from your shots tomorrow. Ugh! The moral of this story.... Prayer works, and friends and family who pray with you are priceless! You JUST woke up with no fever, and are super happy! love you. Sorry about tomorrow baby boy! But we will pray you through it :)

Peter Piper PEEEEPER!!!

Dear Elijah,
I can hardly type, I'm laughing so hard! Your dad and I have had quite a night. First of all, for some odd reason you went to sleep earlier than you usually do tonight, and so your dad and I were just hanging out, watching t.v. and eating ice cream. It all started when earlier in the evening, your dad was in the kitchen trying to find a bowl for his ice cream. I went walking into the kitchen right when he was going to turn around to look in another cupboard, and he got so startled and embarrassed for be startled all at the same time, so he exclaimed... "Don't you scare me today!!!" HAHAHAHAHA. I have to say that I laughed in his face. Who says that! Usually people scream or say something faster and that doesn't make sense. Anyway, later on I snuck off to our bedroom while your daddy was putting on the dvd our favorite show, and was so excited to play a trick on your dad!!! Hahahaha! I got the idea while brushing my teeth. I put a huge atlas under the covers at the foot of his side of the bed! Teeeeheeeheeehee! Then to top it off I put his hair gel container under his pillow. He happened to walk by when I was adjusting the atlas, and I quickly straightened up and was acting super awkward. He was only walking by the room to go to the bathroom, but when he saw me, he backed up again and looked at me funny! I had to think up a cover story. so... I exclaimed... "You scared me!" and he started laughing and kept walking to the bathroom. But I was laughing so hard, and he thought it was because he scared me, but really I was laughing because I was so amused by the fact that there was an atlas under the blankets! We returned to the living room where we watched our show and he scratched my head. I decided to look at facebook really quick before I went to bed, and saw that your cousin Nicholas had cut his little head open and needed staples in his poor little head! This was distressing, so I told your dad, and showed him the picture of Nic's head :( Well, after that we were off to bed and discussing tomorrows schedule, when your dad looked at me all serious and said... "So all we know is that he hurt his head at Peter Piper Peeeper... ugh, NEVERMIND!" I lost it! He was meaning to say Peter Piper Pizza, and peeeeeper came out instead! AAAAaaaaahahahahahaha. I was laughing so hard that I forgot about my tricks. He was laughing too, but trying to shush me at the same time because he was bringing you in the room, and didn't want me to wake you up from my high pitch laughter. Then, to put the cherry on top of everything, he got into bed finally and then was like... "what the!!! Oh my gosh babe, what is at my feet?! Is that a book?" I exclaimed, "IT'S AN ATLAS!!! bwaaaahahahaha" So he shoved it over to my side as I was rolling around in the covers unable to breath, and said your so weird! Then he found the hair gel, and started busting up! I squealed even louder and thought I was pretty much the funniest person in the world. All the while you are sleeping through all of this. You poor baby! Hahaha... Then when all the stuff was out of the bed and I started to calm down, we were talking about stuff, and I confessed that he didn't scare me earlier. He was like... "oh my gosh, you were totally laughing to yourself weren't you? thinking you were so funny. Your such a nerd." He's right... I was totally dweeben it... We were just about to get some shut eye, when I stretched at the very moment your dad was readjusting, and I bonked him super hard in the eye ball with my elbow! There we went again!!! We were laughing soooooooooooooooooo hard, and your poor dad was in pain. Then he said... "and remember when we were salsa dancing and the mug moved?" He meant to say rug, not mug, and that sent me into another laughing spell. Especially because it actually did remind me of the rug moving which sent your dad falling to the floor! Oh my goodness Elijah... We had quite a night. This is why you need to stay awake longer with us. Without you to play with, we apparently go a little nuts. I love you baby boy. Can't wait to share all this craziness with you when you will be old enough to participate and remember. Night!

Daddy Day!

Dear Elijah,
This weekend was unusual for me because I had plans to go to a Woman of Faith conference with some ladies, and leave you with your dad. I first went last night for about 3 hours while you were home with daddy, but I came home and woke up early this morning to leave for the conference at 8am. This was the first time you and your daddy have been alone together for an extended period of time! The funny thing is, I totally trust your dad!... Well that's not funny... The actual funny thing was that although I trust him with you, I was still talking to him as if he were "the babysitter." Hahahaha. I measured out all your bottles and had them displayed on the counter all clean and ready to grab. I had the formula measured out, the baby food out and ready to go. I did ALL your laundry and put your clothes into categories nicely folded in your dresser. I explained that when you cry like this (insert cry noise) that means your tired and need to be put on our bed so that you know you can take a nap... "but you have to put him in the middle of the bed facing my side and lay on his left side because that's his favorite side, and he goes to sleep better facing you." I explained that this cry (insert cry sound) means he is hungry. Then I went on to tell your dad not to have anything planned that he wants to get done because if you start to fuss and need more attention, he may get frustrated at you because his focus is on something else. Hahahaha... I also explained that if you do cry for an extended period of time, to not worry about it... Babies cry, and don't get frazzled and out of sorts trying to get it to stop. Just be gentle and talk to him softly, and he will eventually calm down!!! Ok, OBVIOUSLY your dad is not a dummy! I think he knew all that ;) but being that this was my first time leaving you two alone for a while, I thought I needed to tell him everything! Thing is... you guys did GREAT! Other thing is... Your dad did things his way, and you were a happy baby all day long.Sometimes I get so focused on needing things one way, and don't realize that for other people it may be different. I forget that others also need to learn things organically and for themselves. I imposed all my ways on your daddy. I'm glad I caught myself and realized this revelation before I left for Women of Faith. When I got back, you were wearing an outfit I would never have put you in, your daddy had created a crazy play station for you that I would have never done, he used a blanked that is obviously just for looks ;) haha, and let you play with a toy that you usually only play with when mommy is changing you! It was so fun to see how different things were for you guys, and see how great your daddy was with you! He brought change into your life, and guess what? You survived! Hahahahaha. He is a good man, and you are our sunshine. So of course I missed you all day, and thought about kissing your cheeks, and holding you, and smelling you! I missed your smile and your laugh! UUUgh! I just really freaking missed you! So when I came back to you and daddy, you were sleeping in daddy's arms, and he kind of whispered in your ear... "mommy's home, look who's here baby." You opened your eyes..... Looked right at me.... and!!!!!! started crying! Stuck your lip out as far as it goes and cried! hahahahahahaha! So I took you into my arms and you were telling me all about how I was a horrible person for leaving you that long. I was giggling, hugging and kissing you till you were ready to not be mad at me anymore. It was the cutest thing ever! Then you were all smiles and sweetness. I LOVE you! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! Although I had a very pleasant time at my conference, there is nothing like coming back home to my family :) I got to hear Amy Grant, a Christian singer sing one of my favorite songs tonight. It's called "better than a hallelujah." Ok, babe, I better go... I have so much to write and so much on my mind... I have so much to tell you! But I will wait. Gotta go get my snuggle on with daddy now :) Good night sweet angel.

God loves a lullaby
In a mothers tears in the dead of night
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.
God loves a drunkards cry,
The soldiers plea not to let him die
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

The woman holding on for life,
The dying man giving up the fight
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes
The tears of shame for what's been done,
The silence when the words won't come
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes.

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts

Are better than a Hallelujah

Better than a church bell ringing,
Better than a choir singing out,singing out.

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

It's So Different

Dear Elijah,
Who knew that we are capable of appreciating every big or tiny little thing about someone. It's so different with you. I have had the privilege, yes, PRIVILEGE, to see you grow from day one! I have got to experience every new expression, knew trick, new sound, and knew growth you have accomplished. I notice everything! Well, I like to think I do anyway, I'm sure God has got me beat on that one ;) Here is the thing. I was sitting here on the couch staring at you, and thinking about how much I absolutely love you and how I would be sad if any other baby in this world was not loved as much as you are loved by me and your daddy. The crazy thing is that before I was a mom, I did not know the depth of what motherhood can be. I had no idea how mommies felt, or what they would go through on a daily basis. Now that I am a mom, and I am seeing you and loving you, I can't understand how selfish I was before! Hahahahahaha. I seriously did not think about a lot of things that I think about now. Not like I was a completely selfish person, that's not what I'm saying, but being a mom has opened me up to so many things I would have never felt. I'm sure God has so many other ways as well to give people this kind of perspective. I'm glad he chose to give me you to teach me all this cool stuff, and let my heart feel all this love I never knew before. Funny because when I married your daddy, I knew that there was no other person in the world I could love like I love him. I learned soooooooooooo much just being married! I was able to really see him in a way I have never been able to with anyone else. He is my home. I am so happy that he taught me to love and care in a whole other way, just like you did with me Eli. I am most grateful for how God has given me people and experiences to build my character. God has given me empathy, love, and care for others, and He has built that more up in me since your daddy and you have been in my life. Without these blessings from Jesus, I wouldn't be able to love this deeply and appreciate the people (especially you) in my life, I love you baby boy! And if anyone is ever mean to you, I'll give em a knuckle sandwich ;) Hahahaahahahaha... Or pray for them very hard! Heehee

it's hot around here! So you have been wearing diapers ;)

It All Started with a Spoon!!!

Dear Elijah,
Oh my Elijah, you sure did through mommy and daddy for a loop last night! You were so tired that you were so confused about your own emotions! You would laugh into a cry, or cry into a laugh. Hahahaha, it was crazy. Well, I got you to settle down and was feeding you some yummy mango. You have been trying to be more independent lately which had already led to you to hold your own bottle!!! That was exciting. I got a picture of that very moment. :) Also, you have been grabbing everything in sight. You have been trying sit up by yourself too, but are not quite ready to do that without someone helping a little ;) Well, last night you grabbed your spoon while I was feeding you, and tried to do it yourself. Well, I was not really thinking, and I didn't want you to make a huge mess, so I took the spoon from your little hands and you looked at me with such a sad face and started to cry, which turned to screaming. SO SAD!!! I felt horrible! You were just trying to learn, and mommy rained on your learning parade! hahahahahahaha. I tried everything to make you feel better. I tried to give you your spoon back, didn't work... Tried to rub your back and talk you down, didn't work... Tried to kiss you and hug you, didn't work... Tried to feed you, didn't work... Finally I gave you a book, and you started playing with it, and stopped crying. That is until you couldn't grab the pictures out of the book... Then you started crying again! So I did the only thing I know could make you happy. I gave you a bath! Best decision ever! You had so much fun splashing around and laughing in the bath tub. You were just so happy and that made mommy sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy! After your bath you were in such a better mood till you finally fell asleep in your daddy's arms. He put you to bed and walked into the room I was in and said... "what a handful," I answered... "yes, he was something else tonight!" hahahahahaha... You were passed back and forth between the two of us more than any other night! Taking turns trying to calm you down and keep you happy. :) gosh you're cute! You melt my heart and I love taking care of you. You have the most precious cry and sad face which makes it all the more sad when you cry :( but OH SO CUTE! aaaah we love you babe!

vacation and family fun!

Dear Elijah,
Well, so much has been happening! Lets begin with you and I being able to spend lots of time with daddy at work! Last week we really got to hang out a lot in the gym with daddy and see him train lots of people! We usually aren't there unless he is training your grandparents or Nina, because we don;t want to make people nervous ;) But when it's them, they don't mind us being there, and it's fun seeing your daddy at work ;) He even holds you sometimes :)
We also just celebrated your grandma Diane's 59th birthday last Tuesday and that was a lot of fun. You got to hang out with your fun cousins and too. We had food, cake and ice cream, which you can't have yet, but soon you will be able to. Instead you stick with milk, and baby food. You enjoy bananas, mango's, pears, and peaches so far... Oh yes, and carrots!
This past weekend, which was the first weekend in September, you me and daddy went on our first planned family vacation!!! Well, first vacation where you were out of my tummy ;) It was so much fun Eli, and you loved every second of it. We went to Palm Springs and stayed at the Renaissance Hotel which had a HUGE pool, and beautiful grounds. We could not believe how great you did in the pool, but it also helped that the water was pretty warm. You just had to kick your feet in it for a while until we dipped you in up to your shoulders, and then you were fine. You spent most the time kicking around in your little palm tree floaty that mommy bought you before the trip! I scored your floaty for 3 bucks at Target since they are trying to get rid of their summer stuff! Yay for us! ;) You liked floating around with us in the pool, and then you also liked when daddy held you and you kicked your little feet as he pulled you around the water. I took so many pictures!!! I couldn't stop! I was just so excited to see you enjoying our first family vacation. I had so much fun, and it was such a relaxing time. When we weren't at the pool, we were off exploring the restaurants and shops on the Palm Springs drive. We wondered into a hat store and made you try on hats. That was fun for us, maybe not so fun for you! hahahahaha Your daddy and I ended up taking us to an interesting place to eat that gave us our check in a red high heel... (Ask us more about this when you are older) it's a funny story ;) they had the best shakes ever! We also tried out a great Mexican restaurant! Yum... On the way home we stopped at A&W for some food and a root beer float! I haven't had one of those in such a long time, and it was so good. You ate pears and enjoyed those too ;) You were very happy the entire trip, and I can't even remember you really crying at all. You loved the hotel bed, and were happy to lay on the fluffy white comforter, and kick around. Your dad and Mine's theory is that you LOVE hotels. You are always so happy to be in a hotel room. hahahahaha. It's so funny. well, anyway, we had a lot of fun, and were so glad to have a fun baby to share a great vacation with. You are so much fun, and such a great sport. Ok, you and daddy are waiting for me right now... In fact you are both seriously staring at me right now. I'm coming, I'm coming! Love you ;)