Thanksgiving 2009

It has been so long since I've posted! This is mainly due to the fact that our lives have been pretty "boring" lately, which is just how I like it, to tell the truth! :) Eli has been enjoying lots of time outside (Who can resist long walks and afternoons at the playground with this gorgeous weather?), learning plenty of new words, and mastering the art of climbing every single obstable he can find. He's a joy!

For Thanksgiving this year, we spent the morning at Eric's mom and step-dad's house in Fort Worth and the evening with my family here in Mesquite. Two great meals, lots of grandparent attention for Eli, and great memories all around. Eli did great- he was such a trooper with the long drive to and from Fort Worth, and he even took a 2-hour nap at Grandma's house! My grandparents are here from Pennsylvania, so that made Thanksgiving even more special for us.

The day after Thanksgiving was the official start of the Christmas season at the Wilson house, even though (true confessions) we've been sneaking Christmas cds into the cd player for weeks now. :) Eric put the lights on the trees outside the house and brought down all the boxes from the attic, and then he took Eli outside to play for the afternoon so that I could clean and decorate. It was great! I cooked another Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night just for us (I can't not have turkey leftovers!), and we watched the Family Stone after Eli went to sleep. (Sidenote: I looooooove this movie! Perfect, perfect Christmas movie.) This is our traditional start to the Christmas season- I love it!

On Saturday we went to cut down our Christmas tree! But more on that later. Right now I need to get to sleep, since I'll probably be up with poor Eli once or twice tonight. He has hand-foot-mouth disease, as do his cousins and our friends' kids. Who knows where it started, but it has made for some fussy kiddos around here lately! We're just dealing with the fever now, praying that he doesn't get the mouth sores- the last thing Eli needs is something that causes him to stop eating and lose weight!

Anyway, we are super thankful for a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with our little family. I hope that you guys had a special holiday as well!

Thankful

I heard a comment this afternoon on Family Life Today that really struck me. I'm paraphrasing when I say this, but it was basically along the lines of:

"Imagine if what you have tomorrow depends on what you give thanks for today. What would tomorrow look like?"

Yipes! In all honesty, if I was given tomorrow only the things for which I gave thanks today, I would have very little when I woke up in the morning. Yet we are called to such a high standard: "In everything give thanks..." (1 Thess. 5:18). I am trying today to have a much more grateful heart, one that does not miss the everyday blessings that I look over all too easily. I really feel like a grateful heart can be the doorway into a much closer walk with the Lord, because it expresses humility and dependence. I'm working on that doorway today!

Bye-Bye Baby!

I can't believe that today Eli is 18 months old, the official point of entry into toddler-hood. Though he will always be my baby, he is technically a toddler now, and I can't believe it!

Eli is the joy of our lives, a content, hilarious, fun, energetic blessing who keeps us laughing and smiling all the time. I love him more than anything in the world!

At 18 months, Eli is a top-speed runner and walker, a babbler of countless words, and a lover of the outdoors, climbing, and playing chase. His favorite activities include being pulled in the red wagon, taking long walks (with lots of pauses to pick up sticks and acorns), and tickle fights. He is seriously the most fun little kid you can imagine. Eric and I both just love being with him!

Eli, you are our sunshine. As your mommy, I will never, ever forget the feeling of you kicking inside my tummy, the overwhelming love I felt the first time I held you in my arms, how tiny you were, or how hard you fought to go from sick preemie to healthy, vibrant toddler. But also, as your mommy, I will treasure every single moment that is to come, and I will pray big prayers for your life as you continue to grow and learn. You are a toddler now, sweet boy, but you will always, always be my baby.

Schedule? What Schedule?

I used to be the biggest fan in the world of the whole "fall back" thing. I mean, who doesn't love getting a whole extra hour of sleep every autumn?

I'll tell you who...

Mothers of young children, THAT'S who!

Eli was formerly the most perfectly scheduled little child. Up between 8 and 9 every morning. Down for a nap at noon. Up again between 2 and 3. Asleep for the night by 7:30pm. Happy, content, non-whiny, full of energy during all his awake hours. Perfectly scheduled, I tell you!

And now? NOW? Now he is up between 6 and 6:15am. By 10:30am he is beside himself with exhaustion and spends the next hour and a half whining, moaning, clinging to my legs, and crying. He takes his afternoon nap, but it is now, for some reason, a good hour shorter than before the time change. We try to push him to his normal bedtime at night and usually make it to about 7pm, but he still wakes up around 6am! What in the world?

So, basically, all the time change did for me was to make my child sleep a good 2 hours less than he used to sleep, than he needs to sleep. And less sleep a very cranky child makes!

Let me just say that I am a fan of this time, this normal old non-daylight-savings time. I like that the sun comes up early and goes down early. But let's just leave it this way, eh? Messing with the clocks twice a year wreaks havoc on small children and their mothers.

Mothers of small children, UNITE! No more time changes!

Roar!

What a gorgeous day it was on Saturday! A perfect day to wake up looking like this:



Poor Eli has had a bad cold this past week, and it developed into pink eye this weekend. He woke up with his eyes puffy, red, and gunky. I felt terrible for him, but he didn't seem to mind one little bit. Fortunately, my mom (a nurse) had some antibiotic drops for him, so we didn't have to take him to the doctor.

Unfortunately, we had family pictures scheduled for Saturday morning. :) All the pictures were in black and white, though, and his eyes had started looking better by the time we started, so hopefully no one will be able to tell. But if you get a Christmas card from us this year with Eli's eyes looking a little funny, remember this blog post! :)

Eli took a good long nap after a harrowing morning of being forced to sit still and smile (neither of which he did much of!). Then we headed back outside to enjoy the gorgeous afternoon.

And then it was costume time! Eli had the cutest little lion costume to wear. Seriously- is he not the most adorable lion ever?!?





Timothy and Cooper, Eli's cousins, dressed up as well. Timothy was a hedgehog and Cooper was an octopus. They would NOT all cooperate for a picture, but here are a couple... Eli giving Cooper the octopus a kiss, and Eli comforting poor sad Timothy, who apparently didn't like his costume this year. :)





After our failed attempt at a photo with all 3 boys, we took a very tired little lion home for the night. But first we pretended to trick-or-treat at our house, just so we could get a picture of him with his pumpkin. :)



I hope you all enjoyed a beautiful weekend. Happy November!!!