Our Place

Upheld

2012-01-16T05:58:00.001-08:00

Eli caught a bad cold and cough in the middle of last week. We took him to his pediatrician, who listened to his lungs and said they sounded clear. She went ahead and started him on an antibiotic just in case, though, and had us increase the frequency of the breathing treatments we give him whenever he gets a cough. By Saturday night he had seemed to perk up- running around the house and goofing off, convincing us that he had turned a corner. But Saturday night into Sunday morning he took a turn for the worse. By early Sunday morning we were all three sitting on the couch doing back-to-back breathing treatments to no avail. Eli was breathing hard and fast, unable to catch his breath.

(in the ER)

We went to the ER at Medical City Children's early Sunday morning. I prayed as we drove to the hospital for patience, strength, and grace, because I know how stressful these hospital visits can be, and I had a feeling we might be admitted. I wanted to honor the Lord with how I responded and how I treated those who helped us, and I knew I needed God to empower me to do this, because I was just an exhausted, concerned mom holding her very sick little boy. There was no way I could be a gracious testimony of Jesus in such a situation on my own.

God poured out His blessings on us while we were in the hospital. And it started from the very minute we walked in. We didn't even have to sit down in the waiting room- they took us directly back into a room. It was seriously less than five minutes between the time we walked in the door and the time they started giving him a breathing treatment. The staff was kind and generous, quick and compassionate. One nurse even went to the trouble of printing out coloring pages from the computer for Eli. We were admitted to the hospital about an hour after we arrived.

(in his hospital room)

And minutes after that friends and family started showing up. The flow of people in and out of our hospital room was nearly constant for the next few days. They brought balloons, stuffed animals, games, coloring books, movies, and other gifts for Eli. They brought Starbucks for me. One sweet friend loaded up her MP3 player with worship songs so I could fill my mind with Scripture. Another would call late in the night when she knew I would be up late, alone, just to check in with me and pray. They served us food and brought us groceries and lifted us up in prayer with tears in their eyes. We didn't have to eat hospital food for one single meal- every meal was delivered to us by someone who loved us. I could hardly keep up with the texts and phone calls we constantly received.

Through it all I felt so incredibly lifted up. I felt the work of the Holy Spirit within me, empowering me to be gracious and kind despite major lack of sleep and a stressful situation. And this is due to the constant prayers of our dear friends and family. Truly, this is what friends are for. I have always known that we have fantastic friends, but it is in situations like this that you can clearly see what friends are made of. And ours are gold. I am so humbled and so grateful to the Lord for putting us into a church where we can build friendships like these. I don't know how anyone could get through an ordeal like this without the support of friends. (And I am lumping in my dear, precious family with these friends as well!)

We even had opportunities to serve and minister to the staff that took care of Eli! This comes from God alone. I am so, so thankful.

We came home on Thursday afternoon with armloads of gifts and a phone constantly "dinging" with texts offering praise to God for getting Eli healthy enough to leave the hospital. And we came home just so thankful to the Lord for the overflowing love we experienced from Him, both through His Spirit within us and through the Body of Christ ministering to us. We are truly thankful for this experience.

(finally better and playing on the floor of his hospital room)

And I want to also say how proud I am of Eli. He had to endure some pretty miserable stuff throughout the hospital stay, from an IV in his arm, to an almost 24-hour, mask-on-his-face breathing treatment, to being woken up throughout the night every two hours for medicines, tests, and treatments. And through it all he had the sweetest, most compliant attitude. Every nurse and therapist that came in commented on how impressed they were with his behavior, and I was so proud. He was brave and trusting, and he was a blessing to every person who came into the room.

Once again, I am so humbled and so very thankful for the way the Lord blessed us this past week as Eli was sick in the hospital. I never want to forget it.

Home!

2012-01-12T16:00:00.001-08:00

We're home! Eli managed to stay off of oxygen all night last night in the hospital, which was his last criteria to meet before coming home. He is weak and tired, but we are all so, so happy to be at home. We'll have a few low-key days here at home trying to get his strength (and weight!) back up, and then he will hopefully be good as new!

I want to write about the abundant blessings we experienced while we were in the hospital (including opportunities to minister to others!), but that will have to wait a little while. But let me just say that I am so thankful for the five days we were there, because we got to experience so much grace from the Lord, both through His Spirit within us and through our dear friends and family pouring out love onto us. God is so good.

And now I get to go take a shower in my own shower before crawling into my own bed! I am giddy with the thought! :)

Thank you for praying for our boy!

Pray, Please?

2012-01-09T13:33:00.000-08:00

Our sweet Eli is in the hospital with a pretty bad case of pneumonia. We've been here since yesterday (Sunday) morning, and it looks like we'll be staying until at least Thursday. Please pray for our boy, and for grace and patience and endurance for Eric and me. We are so very thankful for the excellent care we've received and for the dear friends and family who have been serving us around the clock. Truly, God's blessings abound.

First Day

2012-01-05T07:45:00.000-08:00

Eli started preschool this morning! He'll be going two days a week while I'm at work, and he couldn't have been more excited. We love the school because it's at a local church that teaches the Bible to the kids along with the other basics, and because Timothy goes there too and loves it.

I was nervous about how Eli would do, despite him telling me over and over that he was so excited and wouldn't cry. But this morning my shy boy gave me a hug, found Timothy, and marched right in to his class without looking back. I got a little teary-eyed once I got in the car, but his excitement and bravery just confirmed to me that he is so ready for this! And that makes me much more happy than sad.

Timothy being there makes a huge difference, too. Eli and Timothy have been on cloud nine talking about going to school together. (Timothy has been going for a semester already.) Timothy has taken it upon himself to "take care of Eli," and Eli is so confident with Timothy by his side. This morning Timothy gave Eli a kiss on the forehead and they were off to play. It melted my heart!

I can't believe that my baby is big enough for school! I'm so excited for him and so proud of my big boy.

(Sorry for the poor picture quality- this was just snapped with my phone!)

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T06:30:00.000-08:00

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

May each of us remember now our mighty Savior born for us in a lowly manger. Merry Christmas!

"This is Supposed to be Special!"

2011-12-18T20:05:00.000-08:00

As part of our family's Advent, we do one special "family activity" each week. (There are also service projects, Scripture readings, and tiny pieces to a nativity that gradually gets built throughout Advent.) So this week's activity was a family movie. I bought the "Polar Express," and Eli was so excited to watch the "Twain Movie." We had such a busy weekend, though, that we didn't get a chance to watch it until this afternoon after church and a church luncheon.

Our nephew Timothy came over to watch with us, too. He's more like a brother to Eli than a cousin, so he's a part of a lot of our family activites. Anyway... we got them all set up on the couch with hot chocolate and cozy blankets, and they were just so giddy. It was adorable!

And we cuddled up and watched that movie for all of 20 minutes before things started deteriorating. :) They just wanted to play! I kept telling them that this was "family time" and that they needed to sit down and watch the movie. Finally their goofing off led to an entire mug of hot chocolate getting spilled on the rug and a subsequent lecture from me about how "this is supposed to be special!"

And as they went scampering away to play with toys and I listened to them laughing and talking while Eric and I scrubbed the rug, I realized that I'm putting way too much pressure on Christmas "activities" to deliver the meaning of the season. Because it's not about a 2-hour movie watched all the way through. It's about two little boys playing so happily together that there was nothing else they'd rather be doing. And it's about the love that we have the choice to show to each other in gratitude for the tremendous love that was shown to us at the birth of our Savior.

So, as I apologized to Eli for my bad attitude and high expectations and lack of love in the way I treated them, I tried to engrain in my heart that the "everyday" moments are the special ones. I don't want to put any pressure on Christmas, because the center of it all is the infant who came to bring us peace!

So there will be no more "This is supposed to be special!" lectures from a frazzled mommy. There will just be happiness in the moments shared and the opportunites we have to love and share with others. And if we get to watch more than 20 minutes of a Christmas movie together, that's just a bonus. :)

The Heavenly Host

2011-12-13T11:34:00.000-08:00

On Friday Eric and I drove to Norman, Oklahoma so that I could be in my dear friend Misty's wedding. We are friends and former roommates from college, and it was such a joy to stand beside her as she married the man who is so perfect for her! It was a great little whirlwind trip. Congratulations, Misty and Gerhard!

We drove back on late Saturday night so that we could be at church on Sunday to see the children's Christmas program at church! All the kids have been working for months on this program, and the whole church has been eagerly anticipating this. We are so thankful for the women who headed this up and spent so much time and energy getting it all together.

The older kids (5-11) were the "choir" and the speaking parts, and the preschoolers made up the nativity. Eli was an angel. They brought in each part of the nativity at different times in the program, and each time you could hear the whole congregation say "Awwwwww!" when they came in- they were just adorable!

In my biased opinion, I've got to say that the angels were the best part. There were about 10 of them, all 3 years old, all dressed in white with halos and wings and these tinsle pom-poms that they waved around. They sang their little hearts out to "Angels We Have Heard on High," and it was the cutest thing I've seen in a long time.

(This picture makes me laugh- that's Timothy, my nephew, picking his nose. :) )

Eli loved being a part of this, and I loved watching him, along with all the other fantastic kiddos the children's ministry has blessed with, praise the Lord at Christmas.

Christmastime Happenings

2011-12-05T18:12:00.000-08:00

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we made our annual trek with the Heinzes to the Christmas tree farm to cut down our tree! A few pictures from our day...

On the hay wagon:

We found a good one!

Eli and Timothy:

Today Eli and I went with our dear friends Elizabeth and CJ to Northpark to see the trains and visit Santa! This is the first year that Eli has been "into Santa," so this has been a much-anticipated event! :)

Eli and CJ looking at the trains:

Me and my sweet boy:

Eli and Santa! Eli was soooo excited to see him, and Santa did not dissapoint!

We had such a fun, Christmas-y day with treasured friends. I love this season!

We Rocked the Rock

2011-12-04T20:12:00.001-08:00

Today Eric and me and our dear friend Sarah ran the White Rock Half Marathon! Running a half marathon was one of my New Year's resolutions for last year: run 13.1 miles at 30 years old. I'm so happy to have completed it with my husband and my sweet friend!

We've trained for this for three months now, so we were SO ready to just do it! The only problem with the race was that it was 40 degrees and 100% chance of rain! Yikes! Fortunately, it only sprinkled on us while we stood in the "corrals" waiting for our turn to cross the starting line, and once the skies really opened up, we were already warm from running.

The atmosphere of the race was so fun! There were tons of people lining the course cheering for everyone, which meant a lot, being as they were standing in pouring rain! :) We ran through the Highland Park neighborhood in Dallas, which is beautiful, and it was just so fun to be running a race with 25,000 other happy runners!

Can you tell by my over-use of exclamation points that I really enjoyed myself? :) Honestly, I'm just so thankful to have had the opportunity to do this, to be blessed with a body healthy enough to accomplish this. It felt fantastic, and I can't wait to do it again next year!

This 30 year-old non-athlete ran 13.1 miles in the cold rain today! And she's proud of it! :)

Thanks-giving

2011-11-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

If you know me well, you’ve probably heard me ramble on about “an attitude of thanksgiving” more than once. It has been my “theme,” if you will, for the past year, and I have loved seeing the Lord work on the hardened parts of my heart through simple lessons of thankfulness.

I’ve always loved Thanksgiving, but this year I am loving it even more as we seek to see all the little blessings of the Lord in our daily lives. We’ve been filling up our "thankfulness jar" with scraps of paper bearing the written names of gifts from the Lord, from large to small. Eli dictates his thankfulness to me daily, and I write them all down… candy, airplanes, bicycle, Daddy, stickers, red leaves,… We add all of our thankfulness daily to this jar, and we’ll read through our writings on Thanksgiving morning.

And the image of an empty glass jar slowly, over the course of the month, being filled up with scraps of yellow and orange paper? It’s a perfect analogy for how thankfulness can fill up our hearts, leaving little room for complaining.

So, this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for a whole jar-ful of little gifts, from chilly, rainy mornings to candles flickering to a bouquet of fresh flowers. I am thankful for our cozy little home and daily provision and my family close by. I am thankful for my husband who loves me and my son who is healthy and my God who gave me all of this.

But more than that? I am thankful for the cross of Christ, His blood spilled on my behalf, the peace I have, eternally, with the God of the universe, because Jesus paid for my sins. All other gifts pale in comparison to this one. But I believe that as we thank God for all His many blessings in every day, we are brought into deeper communion with our Savior who died for us.

Happy, happy Thanksgiving! May we rejoice today in the abundant gifts of our Father.

Thankful

2011-11-17T20:37:00.000-08:00

Raising a child has taught me so much about my own sin and shortcomings. I sometimes watch Eli get worked into a frenzy about some minor issue and think, "Geez! Get a better attitude!" And then I remember that I oftentimes am guilty of doing the very same thing!

This year we have been working hard to cultivate an attitude of thankfulness in our home. Part of this includes listing, at various times, what we're thankful for in any given moment. I've been learning that turning my thoughts from complaining to thanking really does work to change my whole attitude!

I've loved observing this in Eli as well. When he gets frustrated about something or is upset, I try to, instead of just silently brooding over how much I dislike his bad mood, start listing things that I'm thankful for. It takes a minute or so, but Eli will eventually chime in. Before we know it, we're both coming up with a long list of things we can be thankful for in the moment, and both of our attitudes are totally turned around!

I'm thankful for how the Lord uses my three-year-old to teach me how childish I sometimes act! And I'm thankful that He has compassion on me just as a "father has compassion on his children" and remembers that I am "but dust" (Psalm 103).

And I am thankful for all the things that Eli says he is thankful for! I love them all! Rainbows, candy, cousins, paint, red leaves, his bicycle, a car to drive, a Daddy who works hard, his friends, rain,... I can almost picture God in heaven just smiling as He hears the thanks of little children as they take joy in all His bountiful gifts.

We pray that the lesson of thanksgiving continues to change our attitudes and our hearts. Because, truly, God's gifts are abundant.

Halloween

2011-11-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

For people who aren't too big on Halloween, we sure did a lot of Halloween-related events this year! :)

We started with costume night at Awana. Here are the three of us in our costumes- doctor, dinosaur, and detective (minus the giant magnifying glass that was later added to the costume). The suit was Phil's dad's years and years ago, and Eric is the only one skinny enough to fit into it! :)

We went to a couple church "festivals" too in the past week. Eli loved it all. Here a couple shots from the fall festival at Mimosa Lane...

Pony rides:

Giant slide:

Playing games:

Eli, Timothy, and CJ:

Yesterday afternoon we carved a pumpkin, and then we joined some friends for trick-or-treating. This was Eli's first time, and he absolutely loved it!

Eli with Eric's "Japanese warrior" pumpkin: :)

All the kiddos- this picture cracks me up! :)

Our trick-or-treat-er!

State Fair

2011-10-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

Eric and I haven't been to the Texas State Fair in years, but this year we decided that Eli and Timothy needed to experience it! Phil and Kelly left Charlie with my parents, and then we all loaded up and went to the fair on Thursday night. The boys were totally blown away by all that there was to do and see. They just rode around on Eric's and Phil's shoulders with their mouths hanging open as they took in all the lights and sounds and people. It was adorable to watch. We tried to give them a good sampling of fair food, took them to see the pig races, saw the parade of lights, and let them ride a couple rides. They also just stood in amazement at the ferris wheel for quite some time. :)

When we saw Big Tex, Eli said, "Him not bite us?" :)

A few pictures...

By the ferris wheel- us and then Phil, Kelly, and Timothy:

I look like a dork in this one, and you can't really even see the boys, but I love how they're looking at each other! They just stared at each other and laughed and laughed the whole time!

Another ride, this time with Kelly:

Before we left, they shared a drink and a fried snickers. They were absolutely giddy with excitement and exhaustion. :) It was a perfect childhood experience for them!

Family Camping Trip Fall 2011

2011-10-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my whole side of the family (Bergstroms) went our our annual fall camping trip. As usual, it was a fantastic time of relaxing and playing and enjoying being outside and with each other! Here are a few pictures from the long weekend away...

Everyone getting ready for a hike around the lake:

Going for a swim with Pop-Pop:

Eli and Cooper partaking in the plethora of unhealthy snacks we had this weekend: :)

The park had a "grand reopening" event on Saturday with some cool stuff for the kids to do, like this giant slide. I love the expressions on everyone's faces (Pop-Pop, Eli, and Timothy):

Part of the festivities included a visit from Smoky the Bear, who happens to be Eli's idol right now, for some reason. :) Eli and Jacey were so excited to meet him and hug him! Eli keeps saying, "Smoky the Bear loves hugs!"

Our little family:

A great time was had by all!

The Hi-Light of Eli's Week

2011-10-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

One might guess that the hi-light of a three year-old's week would be a trip to the zoo, a camping trip, a pumpkin patch visit, playing outside with cousins, or a baking fest with his mom, all of which Eli has experienced lately.

But the thing Eli has been the most excited about lately? A trip to the dentist. :)

I don't know what this says about him... maybe he's headed for a career in dentistry? that he's picked up on the habits of his oral-hygeine-loving parents? that he's just wierd?

Whatever it means, it sure was cute. :) He woke up yesterday morning and said, "I can't wait to go to the dentist today!" (We had been talking about it daily when we brushed our teeth.) He marched into that dentist's office, gave everyone a smile and a hug, and let Vickie, our wonderful and amazing hygeinist, count and clean his teeth! I was so proud of him. After Vickie was done, Eli asked, "Where's the dentist?" :) Dr. Taylor came by to say hi, and Eli was enthralled. I was so proud, also, of the really good report they gave him of his clean teeth!

He picked out two tubes of toothpaste and a new toothbrush, which he carried around with him on our other errands, and then as soon as we came home he brushed his teeth for a good 5 minutes with his new toothpaste and toothbrush. And he repeated the whole thing once Eric got home from work.

Crazy? Perhaps! But at least he has super-clean teeth!

*The picture is unrelated- just cute! :)

My Little Pumpkin

2011-10-04T20:55:00.001-07:00

The obligatory fall pumpkin photo...

Fall 2011, 3 years old:

And just for the sake of comparison,

Fall 2010 (2 years old):

Fall 2009 (17 months old):

Fall 2008 (5 months old):

I can't believe how much he has grown! It makes me a little sad...

I wonder if he'll still let me take a photo of him in the pumpkins when he's 16. :)

Fall Photos

2011-09-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

A few favorite pictures from the past month...

Eric took Eli to his first Rough Riders baseball game this month. Eli loved it. And I love how Eli is looking so adoringly up at Eric in this picture- it is so representative of how Eli feels about his Daddy!

Eli got a new bike this month and has been riding it at every opportunity. I love watching Eric and Eli ride away down the street together, because I know they're both doing something they love so much.

Phil and Eric took Timothy and Eli to a Forney High School football game a couple weeks ago. The boys loved it- all 4 of them! :)

Even though this is not a great pic of either kid, I still like this picture of Eli and CJ. These two really love each other! This picture was taken at the Gentle Zoo, which both boys thoroughly enjoyed a few weeks ago.

Brownie face:

Eli has been going to Awana this fall, and I think I can finally say that he likes it. :) He had a really hard time the first few weeks- I think the huge group of kids just overwhelmed him at first. But after he said his first Bible verses and got his Cubbies vest, he was really motivated! He wore his vest all the time last week- even to sleep. :)

And this week he marched right in and had a great time! I'm proud of my Cubbie!

Happy fall!

Sweet Boy

2011-09-27T07:38:00.001-07:00

Eli takes a “little rest time” on days when we are home in the afternoon. He plays with toys and reads books for an hour and knows that he isn’t supposed to call me during that time. We always say, “Eli needs a rest, and Mommy needs a rest!” :)

Yesterday before I went into his room I sneezed several times (allergies!). When I went in there to get him, he said, “I hear Mommy sneeze; I say, ‘Bless you, Mommy!’” My heart smiled- it was so cute to me. He was following the “don’t call Mommy” rule, but he was still being sweet, even behind his closed door. :)

24 Hours Away

2011-09-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

On our actual anniversary this year (Thursday), I worked and Eric spent the day with Eli. Then when I got home Eric and Eli went to a football game with Phil and Timothy and I spent the evening cleaning the house. Very romantic. :) But I did get a gorgeous bouquet of roses and a very sweet card!

We were so looking forward to this weekend, though, when we could actually get away to celebrate! We dropped Eli off with my parents at noon yesterday and headed to the Addison Oktoberfest for the afternoon. We had a blast- it was so nice to just walk and talk and enjoy being outside!

After that we went to our hotel in Addison and rested a while and got fixed up for dinner. We went to Chamberlain's Fish Market and Grill, where we had perhaps the best meal we've ever eaten! The restaraunt was fancy and romantic, and the food was incredible. They offer cooking classes there, so I might be asking for that as a birthday gift come December!

We watched "Water for Elephants" in our hotel room with champagne and chocolate cake- an anniversary tradition for us. :) Then we enjoyed sleeping for almost 11 hours straight! We both were in desperate need of rest- it was heavenly!

This morning we went out to brunch and then headed home to get Eli. It was a perfect 24 hours away. I'm so thankful to celebrate four wonderful years with my very favorite person in the world.

4 Years

2011-09-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

I knew it then...

And I still know it now...

There is no one else I would rather spend my life with!

You are my favorite person in the whole world, and you have my heart forever. Thank you for loving me so well. Happy Anniversary, Eric!

Vacation Pictures

2011-09-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

Alright, here we go... :)

We flew into Boston on Wednesday morning and spent the day walking around the historic part of downtown. We'd never been to Boston before, and we loved it! We ate lunch at the Barking Crab on the water, a "Man vs. Food" place, and it was so good!

From Boston we took the Downeaster train to Portland, Maine. Eli loved the train ride (see his giant smile?)! Grandpop and Grandmom met us in Portland and, after a nice dinner out, took us to their beautiful log home in Denmark, Maine.

The next day (Thursday) we went to the Maine Wildlife Preserve, where Eli saw his first moose! He's been talking about it for months now, so I'm glad we were finally able to make his dream come true. :) There were lots of other neat animals there, too- ones that you don't see in Texas! Eli used up his whole disposable camera taking pictures of the animals there. :)

On Friday we went to the beach at Pine Point. It was the perfect day. The weather was gorgeous, and the tides happened to be timed just right so that we were there at low tide and were able to walk way out on the sand bar, catching tiny little crabs, picking up sea shells, and playing in the shallow, clear water. This day will definitely go down as one of our all-time great memories.

Saturday we went to White Lake in New Hampshire. We all love this place, because the water is so clean and clear, and the setting is just picturesque. Eli had a blast playing on the neat playgrounds they have there, too.

On Sunday we had a taste of Hurricane Irene! By the time it reached us it was just a tropical storm, and it was honestly nice to see some rain after months of drought here in Texas! We lost power for a little over 24 hours, but Grandpop has a generator, so we still had some lights and power, and it was nice to just have a relaxing, rainy day inside. We did take a little walk in the rain, though, which was actually really nice!

And on Monday it was beautiful again! We went to breakfast in the morning, and then Eric and Eli and I hiked up Pleasant Mountain. Eli did great walking for a while, and then when it got steep Eric carried him on his shoulders. Eli's favorite part was "running" down the mountain with Eric- his laughter was echoing down the whole mountain! At one point he tripped and fell face-first in the leaves, and he was laughing so hard he couldn't get up. I'll never forget his pure joy.

We rode Grandpop's boat all around Moose Pond later that afternoon, too- it was so beautiful!

On Tuesday we drove to Boothbay Harbor. It's the cutest, quaintest little harbor town you can imagine. We stopped in a little coffee shop for coffee and cinnamon rolls, did some shopping, and then rode a big boat- the "Bennie Alice"- out to Cabbage Island for a clam bake. The weather couldn't have been prettier, and I think this is one of my favorite days ever. Everyone was just so happy. We couldn't have asked for more.

And then on Wednesday it was time to say goodbye to gorgeous Maine and my wonderful grandparents. We had a big breakfast, talked for a long time, took a walk down to the lake, fished a little more, and then headed back to Texas. The trip was just perfect, and we are so thankful for the opportunity to go! We loved every bit of it and are so grateful to my grandparents for sharing it all with us.

Home Again

2011-09-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

We returned last night from a week's vacation in Maine! We had a wonderful time with my grandparents, enjoying the gorgeous weather and scenery, the beach, the lakes, the mountains, etc. It was hard to come back to 105-degree Texas!

But, as always, coming home feels really nice. And I don't know that Eli could have endured one more day of fun- he was absolutely exhausted! :) He fell asleep about thirty minutes before we landed in Dallas, and he didn't wake up at all as we got off the plane, got our luggage, got into the car, drove home, and came into the house. He roused a little when Eric sat him down on his bed. We came back in a second later to get him for a bath, and he was face down on the bed, sound asleep. I've never seen him more tired! :)

He had such a good time- we all did! My dad asked us tonight what were the "high points" of the trip, and our honest answer was, "All of it!" A few things we enjoyed most, though, were...

-stopping in Boston en route to Maine, enjoying seafood and cold beer on the water at the Barking Crab.

-walking out on the sandbar at low tide at the beach, finding tiny little crabs and seashells in the clear, cold water.

-riding a big boat out to a picturesque island for a clam bake.

-enjoying coffee and a giant cinnamon roll in a coffee shop in the cutest little harbor town you can imagine.

-laughing over dominos and dessert with my grandparents late in the night.

-getting up early to run in the 50-degree weather on quiet, wooded roads.

-witnessing Eli's absolute delight in seeing a moose for the first time (at a wildlife preserve)!

-watching my grandparents with Eli and seeing his love for them.

-pork roll and eggs for breakfast!

-zooming across Moose Pond in Grandpop's boat under clear blue skies.

-hiking up Pleasant Mountain with Eric and Eli, hearing Eli's laughter echoing down the mountain.

See what I mean? The whole trip was a "high!" :)

I'll post some pictures soon.

We are so thankful to have had another wonderful summer vacation in Maine!

"My Yeg Hurts"

2011-08-10T21:18:00.000-07:00

This is what Eli says to describe his most recent injury. :) He was with Heather on Tuesday at an indoor playground. He jumped from a tall play structure to the ground, and he hurt his foot when he landed.

He wouldn't walk on it and was really in pain, so I left work early and took him to our family doctor for an x-ray. Fortunately, nothing is broken, but he does have some soft tissue/cartilage injury. His foot is pretty swollen, and he won't bear weight on it at all. And every so often he'll just burst into tears and say, "My yeg hurts!" It breaks my heart!

I'm so thankful that he's not seriously injured, and it was nice to just sit on the floor and play games with him today, honestly! I'm surprised we've made it this long without a serious injury, with the kind of climbing and jumping that Eli does!

I'm hoping that tomorrow he'll be able to walk on it a little more, at least. He told me today while gazing forlornly at his basketball hoop, "When my foot feels all better, I'll run fast and play." :)

Sleepovers and Other Random Photos

2011-08-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

We'll start with the randoms...

First: This is Eli's self-chosen attire for trips to the pool. My favorite part is the boots.

Second: On a previous post I mentioned Eli helping Eric with some new shelves/cabinets. Here are a couple more work-in-progress shots that I think are cute...

Third: The finished product! I love them. Sorry for the terrible flash photography. They're a kind of grayish-purpleish color, not that you can tell from this picture! :) I love them!

Fourth: We made our first attempt at a sleepover with Timothy last week. They did pretty good, although Tim didn't ever fall asleep. :) Fortunately, his parents don't live too far away! :) We look forward to trying again soon!

Fifth: Eric got his first watermelon this week from his garden! We've had peppers, tomatoes, and herbs abundant, but this is the first melon. He was proud! :)

And now for the sleepover portion of this lengthy post...

We had Cooper over to spend the night for the first time this week. Jacey was in Maine this week with my parents, and I really wanted to do something special for Cooper. Plus, both boys have been asking about this for a while now- they're at that age, and I think it's adorable!

They played for such a long time together. I love listening to what they come up with. The theme of this night was that a lion was coming to get them. They played this game forever, stopping only to eat pizza and brownies for dinner. :)

It was super cute to tuck them into their matching sleeping bags for the night. Although Cooper ended up in Eli's sleeping bag and Eli ended up in his bed by morning. :)

We ate pancakes for breakfast (after they woke up an hour earlier than usual with boundless energy!)...

And then I took them to see the Winne the Pooh movie, which was adorable. Kelly and the boys came, too.

And we topped it all off with chicken nuggets and naps. :)

A good time was had by all!

Prayers

2011-07-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

Eli is an earnest pray-er. He remembers when we mention someone who is sick or sad or needs help, and he'll pray for them at night and at random times throughout the day. It's precious and heart-melting.

And at times it's comical. :)

Last night was a prime example. My parents (Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom to Eli) and my neice Jacey (whom Eli absolutely adores) left today on a trip to Maine. We've been talking about it for a while, especially since the three of us are going to Maine in a few weeks, too. So last night Eli prayed, "Dear God, Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom be safe on airplane, and dear God, no lobster bite Jacey. Amen."

The best part was that his prayer was so heart-felt, motivated by his deep concern and care for Jacey. Eric and I smiled at each other over his head and saved our laughter for later. Oh, how we love this kid!

To the Lake

2011-07-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

We spent Saturday at Lake Ray Roberts with some friends from church. I wish I had gotten a picture of all the kids, but there were twelve of them, and you can imagine how difficult that would have been! :) We all had a blast! We're thankful for a pretty place to swim and good friends to enjoy it with!

This and That

2011-07-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

- Eli loves to swim. We spend a good chunk of most days in the water. He loves goggles too. He is particularly fond of this pair, which he calls his "nose goggles." He carries them everywhere and puts them on in the house and pretends to swim across the floor on his belly.

-My grandparents came to Texas from Pennsylvania this week, and we so enjoyed spending time with them! They are truly two of the most godly people I know, and we just soak up every second we get to spend with them!

-A couple random facts: There is a small cardboard jewelry box with five dead cicadas in it sitting on my coffee table. There is a rubber snake named Pete that comes with us on most outings. I love little boys.

-The cousins minus Charlie. Cooper and Jacey refused to smile, but Timothy and Eli look happy enough! :) They love each other so much, and we all pray that their good relationships continue for the rest of their lives!

-Eric revels in any sort of building/construction project, and Eli does too. Here they are at work on a new set of cabinets they're building...

-And finally, something that made me laugh today... Eli has a dog pillow pet, and his cousin Jacey has a unicorn pillow pet. Eli has no idea what a unicorn is, but I guess he played with Jacey's pillow pet while he was with her today. Tonight he said, "Jacey have a pillow pet like me! A CORN pillow pet!" I laughed and then said, "U-ni-corn." He looked at me blankly for a second, trying to register what I was saying. Then he giggled, pointed at me, and said, "No, YOU a corn!" :)

He Makes Us Laugh

2011-07-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

We have a little book that has a bunch of different activity suggestions for dads to do with their little boys. Eric picked it up the other day and read a random one out loud. Eli was nearby, but we didn't even know he was listening.

Eric: "Involve your son in important painting projects."
Eli: "Amen."

Apparently Eli feels strongly about painting! :)

Wade in the Water

2011-06-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

Our summer has been pretty uneventful thus far, which is just how I wanted it to be. We were so busy during the spring that it has been nice to have a slightly slower pace of life for these past few weeks!

We spend at least a couple hours every day at my parents' pool, which is (conveniently!) right next door. And we are rarely without friends, which makes it all the more fun. I love watching Eli and the other kids play while I read a book or talk with friends! :)

Mesquite has a fun little place called the Aquatic Center, part of which is a shallow area with fountains, slides, etc. for the littler kids. We went several times last year, but yesterday Sarah and Heather and I took all the kids there for the first time this summer. Eli was in heaven. Next time we go, I need to remember to bring a camera to try to capture his pure joy. He was so sad when we had to leave, and as we were walking away, he said, "Mommy, I LIKE this place!" :)

I love seeing Eli enjoy the water so much, because being in the pool for hours every day was such a fun part of our childhood summers. I love seeing Eli's slightly sunburned cheeks, bleach blond hair, and tan line right above his white little bottom. :) I love seeing the kids take breaks from swimming to wolf down snacks and juice and then jump right back in the pool. And I love smelling chlorine and sunscreen when I hug Eli. All of this is quintissential summer to me, and I'm so happy that my kiddo is enjoying it!

Stillwater

2011-06-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

We got back late this afternoon from a few days in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I had a conference to attend at OSU for work, and Eric was able to take off most of the week from work so that he and Eli could come with me. Work trips are much more enjoyable when I have Eric and Eli with me!!!

We'd never been to Stillwater before, and it's a pretty cute little college town (home of OSU). The drive was hard, though- five hours is a bit too long for a three year-old, and for a thirty year-old, too. :) But Eli was such a trooper, and I think he had a blast just goofing off with Eric during the day while I was in meetings. The hotel we stayed in was really nice- Eli had his own room (it was a two-bedroom suite) with his own tv and his own bathroom. :) And the hotel had a saltwater pool that he had all to himself, since practically every person staying there was in Stillwater on business. And you don't see too many businessmen doing cannonballs into pools. :) We also got to see Eric's dad and step-mom and sister on our way up, so that was a nice treat, too.

All in all, it was a good week. I learned a lot, and we had some really good family time, too. I'm thankful for a job that I enjoy and for Eric and Eli coming with me to make a work trip a family trip too.

A Thankful Heart

2011-05-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

I assume it’s just normal toddler behavior, but we have been battling Eli’s selfishness so much in the past few months. The word “MINE” became a big part of his vocabulary, and we have just gotten so sick of hearing it! We’ve been trying to teach him to have a thankful heart, to think of the person/people who work hard to provide him with what he needs and so much of what he wants, to remember that everything good is a special gift from God. And, dare I say it, we are starting to see glimmers of a truly grateful heart in him.

The other day I handed Eli a cup of orange juice, a totally normal occurrence. He took a sip and then handed it up to Eric, saying, “Taste this Daddy! It’s so GOOD! Taste it!” Eric took a sip and Eli said, “Good, right? Really good!” It cracked us up. But I love that he was so grateful for something as seemingly small as a glass of orange juice.

Yesterday he was playing in the big bathtub in my bathroom while I was getting ready, just climbing into it and out of it, having a good time. He said, “I LIKE this bathtub! Thank you, Mommy, for buying this bathtub for me!” Again, it was comical, but I am SO thankful to start to see him apply the lessons we’ve been trying to teach him for months now. When he enjoys something, he is learning to choose the right words to express himself… instead of claiming what he loves for himself by saying, “MINE,” he is learning to be grateful for something to enjoy and for the person who provides him with it.

This has been a big lesson for me, too, as I’ve been trying to teach Eli. It is all too often that I tightly close my fist around something I love or enjoy, essentially saying with my heart and attitude, “MINE.” I am trying to teach myself, as I teach my son, that everything good is a gift from the Lord. Instead of claiming what I have as my own and trying to protect it, I need to instead express my gratitude for each and every gift and willingly share it.

Being a parent is humbling work! I am thankful, though, for the sin that God is revealing to me in myself, as I try to parent my son well! Hopefully after 18 or so years of parenting we'll all have hearts that are a little more thankful and a little less selfish! :)

Lake Whitney

2011-05-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

We spent the past weekend at Lake Whitney. This spring has been so busy for us, and we were thankful for the opportunity to slip away for a few days, just the three of us. Eli had a blast, as usual, and we so enjoyed just playing and relaxing and being outside!

Of course, the trip included lots of fishing...

Eli was super proud of this big perch!

Roasting marshmallows...

Playing the the pretty water...

A good time was had by all! This will probably be our last camping trip until the fall, so we were super thankful for the PERFECT weather and such a fun time together.

Three

2011-05-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Eli,

Today you turn three years old! Today I will tiptoe into your room at 5:04am and kiss your sweet, soft cheek, and I will remember so vividly the very first time I kissed you three years ago. I can't believe that my tiny baby is now a boy!

And what a boy you are! You are so full of life, Eli. You love to play outside, to have a catch, to go camping and fishing, and to play hide-and-seek. You love tractors and trains, ice cream and cheetos, bugs and snakes. You are sweet and tenderhearted, the first one to offer help and compassion, good-natured and fun. You love your cousins and your grandparents, and you still love to be cuddled by your mommy. But you are your Daddy's boy through and through! You are a joy to us, sweetheart, sunshine in our lives.

I am so proud of who you are, Eli. Daddy and I look at you and just smile with thanks to the Lord, remembering just how far you've come from a tiny little preemie in the NICU. What a fighter you are! And you've come through with such light and life and joy!

We pray daily for you, that you will become a man of God strong and faithful and fully of kindness and integrity. Already we are seeing your love for Jesus develop, and we rejoice in your tender heart. We pray that this gentle and pure love for Christ will remain for the rest of your life.

Today we celebrate YOU, Eli Dane! We celebrate all you are and all you do, a wonderful and special creation of the Lord. Daddy and I love you more than anything else in this world, and we always, always will.

Happy birthday, my sweet boy! I am so thankful and proud to be your mom.

Always,
Mommy.

Eli's 3rd Birthday Party

2011-05-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we celebrated Eli's third birthday! We had family and close friends over and celebrated with food and fun in our backyard. I think everyone had a good time, and we are so thankful to celebrate with such dear people!

Our birthday boy...

Our friend Kate brought a little bounce house, and the kids had a blast playing in it!

They also played on the slide, the swing, and the sandbox! Eli and Rye...

Eli loved his train cake- it turned out so well, and we're so thankful to know people with such talent! :)

Most of the kids...

And our birthday boy again, with Zeke...

Eli and Jacey...

Eli and Cooper...

Eli and Andy, tired from all the bouncing...

Some of our dear friends and family...

And the three of us!

We are so thankful for such wonderful friends and family and their wonderful influence in Eli's life. It was a really fun day, full of laughter and fun and celebration.

Happy birthday to our sweet Eli!

Easter Festivities

2011-04-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

We had such a nice Easter weekend! Eli and I started it off on Friday morning by making hot cross buns. This picture cracks me up. When I tell him to smile, he pokes out his chin and makes this open-mouthed wierd smile. So I said, "Put your chin down," and this is what I got. :) He loved making the buns with me, and I love the symbolism behind them. Plus they're tasty, too! :)

Next up was egg-dyeing. Eli loved this too.

On Saturday I drove to Waco to meet up with my dear friend Jenn, who was my roommate in college for a couple years and who is still such a precious friend to me! We got coffee, had deluxe pedicures, and ate a yummy lunch, complete with watermelon mojitos. :) It was so much fun to be together and just talk and laugh like always. I am so thankful for her and for this little break our husbands gave us to get away for a few hours together!

In the late afternoon my mom did the egg hunt for the kids, which they, of course loved! And after they all went to bed we had our annual "Easter egg relay" for us big kids. :) A good time was had by all. :)

On Easter morning Eli woke up and was thrilled to find that the Easter bunny did indeed fill his basket. He was most excited about this little green chick. He got a blue one last Easter that he carries around everywhere. The green one has joined his slew of beloved stuffed animals now, too, taking his place with Blue Chick, Lobster Bear, and Barney. :)

Our church had Easter brunch during the Sunday School hour, which was wonderful. Chuch was amazing, too, just so full of emotion and gratitude for what this day means.

Our best attempt at a photo with all the kids together- in church before they were all herded to their classes, extremely distracted by candy being offered nearby... :)

After church we had Easter dinner at my parents' house and then just spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and resting. It was a wonderful weekend.

We are overwhelmed with thankfulness for our Risen Savior, whose death and resurrection tore the veil in two and secured our access to God.

Victory Remains with Love

2011-04-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

"O break, o break hard heart of mine!
My weak self-love and guilty pride
His Pilate and His Judas were.

Jesus our Lord is crucified.

O love of God, o sin of man,
In this dread act your strength was tried.
And victory remains with LOVE!
Jesus our Lord is crucified."

(from "O Come and Mourn with Me Awhile," lyrics originally by Frederick Faber)

Happy Easter to all of you! May you rejoice today that the victory is with the love of God, triumphant over all of our sin.

He is risen!

Jesus' House

2011-04-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to see in Eli lately a real love for Jesus! I think I give him too little credit for how much he understands, just because his vocabulary isn't big enough to accomodate what he knows. :)

On Sunday in his children's church class they made a project that showed the kids' houses on one side and "Jesus' House" on the other side (cotton balls glued on a cloud). Since then, Eli has been saying so often, "Eli want to go to Jesus' house!" "Jesus come Eli's house!" It melts my heart! We've been talking about the fact that we can't see Jesus right now, but He can be with us always when He lives in our hearts.

Last night I was reading him a book about Easter, and Eli asked again when Jesus would come to our house. I told him that we can't see Jesus now, but we can talk to Him any time we want to, to tell Him when we're sad or happy or need help. Eli picked up the book, looked right at Jesus's picture, and said to it, "Jesus, come to Eli's house! I need help!" :)

He also said that he wants Jesus to live in his heart just like He lives in Mommy's heart and Daddy's heart, and those words brought tears to my eyes. I realize that he doesn't yet have a grasp on what "salvation" is, or what heaven or hell are, or even what "sin" is. But I love that my little boy loves Jesus, because that's a pretty great place to start.

My sweet Eli, may you always, always love Jesus with the simple purity you have now.

This Week

2011-04-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

Spring is always so busy for us (trips, birthdays, events, etc.), and it feels like I'm always running hard just to keep up! We've been out of town for most weekends this spring, and so the weeks are just condensed forms of to-do lists and work! I've hated that feeling, and it all caught up with me this week.

But after some good times with the Lord and some wise encouragement from Eric and Sarah, I was able to whittle down my to-do list, get a little more sleep, and spend some much-needed quality time with Eli. Friday morning was one of the most relaxing and fun times Eli and I have had in a long time, and I'm so thankful! And then on Friday afternoon Eric stayed home with Eli and while I checked off a bunch of random errands. Top that off with an awesome at-home date on Friday night, and I felt like a new woman by the end of the week. :)

The weekend was nice, too. I helped host a baby shower for my dear friend Libby on Saturday morning. It turned out really well, and I was blown away once again by how awesome these ladies are that I get to share life with! We are so blessed to be in the church we're in, and I'm so thankful for the friendships we have there!

We spent the rest of the day working outside in the gardens (also very therapeutic for us!), and then today church was soooo good. It was honestly one of the best sermons I've ever heard! The afternoon was spent outside again, since the weather has perfect.

This is a terribly boring post, but I'm committed to posting semi-regulary for the sake of out-of-town family, so there you go. :) I hope everyone is doing well!

Martin Creek

2011-04-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

We spent the long weekend at Martin Creek Lake State Park with my whole side of the family. We've been camping as a family for as long as I can remember, and the tradition has carried on now that we all have families of our own. We go once in the spring and once in the fall, and these weekends are always some of our favorite of the whole year. I just love being all together, outside, laughing and playing the weekend away.

A few pictures...

First, my nephew Charlie (the youngest). This boy loves being dirty like no kid I have ever seen. He's the sweetest, happiest, muddiest little kid you'll ever meet. :)

Next, my neice Jacey with Eli, digging in the dirt.

Our little family.

A little closer.

Of course, there was lots of fishing. (Eric caught some decent-sized bass, and Eli caught a ton of little perch and catfish, which is his dream come true!)

Eli and Cooper.

Flying a kite.

There was lots of swinging, fisbee-throwing, digging in the dirt, eating, playing in the lake, fishing, and watching the kids have the time of their lives. And it was ended each evening with Shiners around the fire after the kids were sound asleep, talking and laughing and feeling filled with gratitude for the family God has given us!

Tractors!

2011-04-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

Friday was a big, exciting day for Eli. First, Eli and I got to go have breakfast at our favorite spot with our dear friend Susie. She (and her husband and kids!) were such big influences on us as we were growing up, and I'm so thankful for her continued impact in my life and now in Eli's as well! After breakfast we rode the trolley all around the Uptown area of Dallas, which we've never done before. Eli loved it- it was a "little train" to him, and he was so excited.

Then, after his nap, we went to visit another dear couple from our church who have been so important in our lives for so many years now. The Yarbroughs have a little farm out east of here, and they invited Eli to come and ride around on their tractor, as his potty-training present. I don't think Eli has been more excited about anything in his life!

Riding the tractor with Mr. Bob.... (Notice that Mr. Bob's hands are not even on the wheel- he let Eli drive all around the farm!)

The Yarbroughs' neighbors breed race horses, so we got to go over and see a 2-week old baby horse, up close and personal!

After chasing the goats all around in an attempt to pet them, Eli rode the four-wheeler all around with Mr. Bob, another first for him.

And after dinner we fished in the pond. Eli caught a couple baby catfish, which was good enough for him! :)

We are so very thankful for the Yarbroughs and their impact in our lives. We had such a fun evening with them, and I don't think Eli will ever forget his first tractor ride!

Lake Ray Roberts

2011-03-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

We went camping this weekend with our dear friends Nick and Sarah and their boys, Titus and Rye. We had a blast. The boys spent tons of time splashing in the water, playing in the sand, and casting their fishing poles (with no hooks). They were totally in their element- outside, dirt, water, sunshine... we had three very happy and very tired little boys. :) We adults had a blast as well, and we're so thankful for this time to just enjoy being outside and with people we love.

A few pictures...

Eric caught a huge fish on only his second cast when we first got there. That started the weekend out right for him. :)

The swimming beach was gorgeous!

An interesting way to fish...

Wading in the water...

We had a fantastic weekend!

Tree Climbing

2011-03-24T20:24:00.000-07:00

The weather has been so pretty lately, and every spare moment has been spent outside. I told Eric tonight (after I practically soaked Eli's t-shirt in spray-n-wash) that the springtime has brought with it a major increase in dirty laundry and dirty little boys! :) But I love it. I love that Eli loves to be outside as much as we do, and I love how healthy it is for Eli and his cousins to run around and get dirty together!

Eli loves to eat lunch outside, so we've been having lots of "picnics" in the front yard. This is the face he makes when I tell him to smile. :)

He loves to throw frisbees. This is right after the release, I guess?

And his new-found love is climbing trees (or holly bushes, in this case). Here he is scoping it out...

Climbing up...

There!

He says when he does this, "Eli climb like monkey!" :) Except he says monkey like, "App-mee," so it sounds even cuter. :)

This weekend we're heading out to Lake Ray Roberts to camp with our good friends, the Vavras. We're excited to fish, play, hike, and just enjoy being in a beautiful place with people we love. I'll post some pictures next week! Happy weekend to all of you!

Two Pictures

2011-03-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Look at me blogging regularly! :)

A couple pictures that I thought were cute from this week...

First, Eli on his scooter. This is definitely one of his favorite outdoor activities lately. He's really pretty good at it, and he has so much fun. (Thank you, Kate!)

Second, look who wears big-boy undies now! :) I'm super proud of Eli for doing so well at potty-training this week. And this picture just makes me laugh.

We had a great weekend, complete with a breakfast date, flower and vegetable gardens planted, great time with family, and a worshipful morning at church. I hope all of you are doing well!

Me and My Llama...

2011-03-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

...goin' to the dentist. Raise your hand if you know that song. :)

Eli had his first trip to the dentist yesterday! I wish I had a picture- he was so cute sitting in that big chair.

We talked it up big-time in the weeks before we went, so he was super excited to go. :) We happen to looooove our dentist, so I'm happy that Eli feels the same! Our hygienist is a friend of ours, and she was so good with Eli. He played with toys and watched me get my teeth cleaned, asking every three minutes, "My turn now?" He met the dentist, who is so good with kids, and Eli thought he was just the coolest person ever.

When it was finally his turn, he got a little scared, but when I offered to hold him on my lap, he was happy to climb up in the chair. He let the hygienist count his teeth and look at them with that little mirror, holding his mouth open and cooperating the entire time! I was so proud of him!

The best part for him was picking out a new toothbrush (He chose a yellow one with baseballs because "Daddy, Eli like baseball.") and toothpaste and sticker. He stuck that sticker on his shirt, clutched his toothbrush and toothpaste, gave everyone hugs, and marched out of there so very proud of himself. It was adorable!

Quick Update

2011-03-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

I don't have any new photos to share, but here's a quick list of some of my favorite "Eli moments" in the past week...

-I don't think there is anything sweeter than a little boy picking a dandelion for his mommy. I love being the recipient of tiny little nubs of flowers picked just for me by my sweet boy!

-My dad, or Pop-Pop, as he is known by the grandkids, is building quite an elaborate play house for the kids. Today Timothy and Eli were "helping," and it was adorable to watch them with Pop-Pop's fancy tools working on the house. I wish I had a picture of it.

-Eli's favorite page in his children's Bible is a page with a picture of Jesus putting mud on the blind man's eyes to make him see again. I always say the same words when we come to that page, telling him that Jesus loves us so much that He wants to take all our boo-boos away. The other day in the car, Eli touched his forehead where he used to have quite a big boo-boo, and he said, "Boo-boo all gone! Jesus takes all boo-boos away. Jesus loves me!" My heart melted.

-He finally grew tall enough to pedal his Radio Flyer tricycle, and he is so proud. He goes so fast!

-He's still so into trains and tractors. He quotes his "Freight Trains" book from memory at least ten times a day as he pushes his toy trains all around the house. Everything is a train to him- anything he can line up in a row becomes a "choo-choo." And driving in the car serves the sole purpose for him of sighting tractors. I love it when we happen to drive by a construction area and he can see "diggers" and "dumper trucks" at work!

-We're working, as always, on helping him to gain weight, since he's still our tiny little guy (which we LOVE). Every morning when he finishes his [calorically enhanced] chocolate milk, he holds up his arms and yells, "Big muscles like Daddy!" :)

I'll post again soon, hopefully next time with pictures! Thanks for checking in on us!

Cooper Lake

2011-03-10T17:50:00.001-08:00

We went camping at Cooper Lake a couple weeks ago, just the three of us. It was such a blessing to get away together and have plenty of time to rest and relax and goof around. Eli, of course, had a blast. A few pictures... (I think if you click on them they get bigger?)

Playing on the awesome playground:

On the back deck of our cabin:

Taking the world's muddiest hike:

Our silly boy:

Fishing with Daddy (alternately titled "Mommy gets to read a book for three solid hours!"):

Picnic lunch before heading back home:

Return

2011-03-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

So… I’m back. :) That’s the story in a nutshell. If you want more details, keep reading…

I have been thinking and thinking for weeks and months about Facebook. I originally joined just after we were married as a way to keep in touch with close friends from college that I didn’t get to see as often as we would all like. I started with ten friends, maybe. Now, almost four years later, my friend list had grown to 400ish, and I’d venture to say that more than half of those people were people that, apart from Facebook, I’d never even talked to. I loved posting pictures and getting comments from family members and friends who love Eli and like to watch him grow, but I found that the bulk of my posting was done not for the benefit of other people but for my own benefit. Who will comment on this status? What will they think of me when I post this? How do I measure up?

And, for me, this was just plain wrong. I was comparing myself to others every time I was on Facebook. I was feeling unworthy and less-than as I read about fantastic friends doing fantastically creative things with their fantastically adorable children. I was feeling proud and worldly when I posted something particularly comment-worthy myself. I was wasting time in little five-minute increments throughout the day as I logged on to check who was doing what at any hour of the day. I realized, slowly, that, for me, Facebook had become a negative.

It all culminated in a great discussion at our women’s Bible study a couple weeks ago. We were discussing 1 Timothy 2:1-2, where Paul instructs Timothy to pray that so that he can lead a “tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” We talked about, practically, what this is and isn’t. And, for me, a tranquil and quiet life definitely isn’t Facebook.

A few of us committed to each other at our women’s retreat last weekend to deactivate our accounts, and so we did. I came home and told Eric about it and he just beamed. He is a man of few words (which I love about him), so when he comments on a big decision or situation, I make sure to listen, because his words are always carefully chosen and brimming with wisdom. His comment on deactivating Facebook? “It is either completely negative or some combination of negative and neutral. And why would you want to use your time on something that’s neutral?” Sold! :)

I’m not condemning Facebook, because I know many, many people who use it in a much more positive fashion that I used it. But for now, for me (and a group of close friends), I’m done with Facebook. And I’ve already noticed such positive changes because of it!

The one thing that saddens me about deactivating my account is that some of the people I care about and don’t get to see very often will miss seeing pictures of Eli. And I totally respect that. Which is why I’m going to try and make more of an effort to keep up with this blog. I’ll probably lean more heavily on the pictures and less heavily on words, but I really want to let those of you who care to still be able to see and keep up with our boy, who is the reason I started this blog in the first place! :)

So, anyway, after this supremely long and probably slightly annoying post, I’ll conclude. Key points? No more Facebook, more frequent blogging, Love you all and want to stay in touch. So check back reasonably often, and I’ll try to keep you updated with what’s going on in our world.

The end!

Blogging Break

2011-02-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

Response to title = obviously. :)

I just haven't wanted to blog lately, to be honest! I want to enjoy life without feeling the pressure to write about it. So, for now, consider this break to be official! This information applies to all two of you reading this. :)

I don't know if I'll pick back up with blogging or not. I enjoyed it for so long as a way to keep family updated on Eli, especially while he was fighting through all his prematurity-related complications. But now I just don't feel like blogging fits into what I want to be doing right now. I may pick back up sometime soon, but I might just not! So don't hold your breath. :)

And with that.... BREAK!

Sailing, Sailing, the Sailing Life for Me

2011-01-17T11:23:00.001-08:00

I can think of a Barney song for every single occassion in my life. Seriously. Is that sad? :)

Anyway, this past week I went on a cruise! My dear friend Sarah and I cruised to the Carribean for our 30th birthdays, a gift from our super-sweet husbands! It was so hard for me to leave Eli, since I've never been away from him for that long, but it ended up being such a perfect little vacation! We boarded armed with books, wine, and plans to read and sleep and relax and talk all we wanted. And that is exactly the kind of vacation we got. We both came back so well-rested, relaxed, and recharged. I loved spending lots of time with the Lord, and I read some amazing books, too. And nothing beats sitting on the beach with a margarita and a good friend!

My favorite moment of the cruise was snorkeling in Cozumel. The water was clear blue, and you could see for miles, it seemed like. The fish and coral were amazing, and it just felt like the most worshipful experience to be in the midst of God's gorgeous creations!

I loved every minute up until the final day "at sea," when the waves were fifteen feet high and the ship was rocking so bad you couldn't walk in a straight line to save your life. :) But other than that not-so-fun afternoon of seasickness, the trip was just perfect. I'm so very thankful for Sarah and the time we had together, and I'm so thankful to our husbands for giving us this experience. Next time we'll let them come with us. :)

*There are lots more pictures on Facebook if you want to see them!

Words About Christmas 2010

2010-12-28T19:49:00.001-08:00

We took pictures on Christmas, of course, but I honestly just don't feel like messing with uploading them now! :) So, instead, here is an attempted brief recap of the best Wilson Christmas yet!

-Christmas Eve Day: Eric's dad, stepmom, and younger sister came to visit us. We went out to lunch, exchanged presents, and just had fun talking and laughing together.

-Christmas Eve Afternoon/Evening: I cooked for the evening's dinner while Eli and Eric played. We visited our neighbors, made a cake for Baby Jesus, and opened the drawer on the advent calendar that had the Baby Jesus piece in it. We all got Christmas pajamas, and, after reading the Christmas story, singing happy birthday to Jesus, and eating cake, we tucked a very excited little boy into bed for the night. (He woke up FIVE times during the night because he was so excited!)

-Christmas Eve Later-Evening: Phil and Kelly came over for our annual Christmas Eve fancy steak dinner. The food and drinks were AMAZING, if we do say so ourselves, and we so enjoyed this time with each other! We said goodbye late in the evening with very full bellies and very full hearts! I cleaned the kitchen while Eric put together Eli's big Christmas gift from us- a tractor! We put out the gifts and soaked up the candlelit view of the tree. We fell into bed late but still couldn't sleep because we were just so happy and excited!

-Christmas Morning: Eric and I read the Christmas story together before Eli woke up and spent time reflecting on Jesus' birth. (And I will again highly recommend Walter Wangerin's Preparing for Jesus- an amazing, life-changing book on advent!) Then we paced the hallway outside Eli's room because we couldn't wait for him to wake up! :) I finally couldn't help myself any longer and woke him up at 8:30am. He was so excited to see his tractor! It's a big John Deere pedal tractor that has a front-loader and a wagon and everything is pretty realistic. He loves all his other (small) gifts, too, but the tractor definitely took the cake! We opened our gifts together and ate cinnamon rolls and were so very thankful to be just the three of us in our little warm house. We couldn't have been more happy or thankful!

-Later Christmas Morning: We headed over to my parents' house with everyone else for the big Bergstrom Christmas. It was so much fun, and the kids were all so happy and well-behaved! We had a blast exchanging gifts and watching the kids play, and we ended it all with a big brunch, complete with my mom's traditional raisin bread.

-Christmas Afternoon: We napped and rested and played with new toys! Perfection!

-Christmas Evening: We went to my Uncle and Aunt's house for the big family get-together with all the cousins, etc. It was a blast, as usual.

-The 26th: We spent the day with Eric's mom and stepdad and had another wonderful day celebrating.

It was a fantastic Christmas! After several years of spending Christmas day running from one get-together to another, we determined that we were done with exhausting, stressful Christmases! We wanted a calm, restful day with plenty of time with just the three of us, and we got just that. And by doing it this way we got to spend great quality time with each of the "sets" of family we have, spread out over a few days instead of packed into one day. It was a perfect, special, wonderful holiday that we'll never forget.

Thanks for reading! :)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-20T19:39:00.001-08:00

As a child, it seemed like the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas dragged by. Now, as an adult, as an adult with a child and a "Christmas" to put on for my family, there seems to be not enough time at all between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And while Eli laments the links still left in his paper chain counting down the days until Christmas, I am thankful for each and every one of them left! There is just so much to do!

That said, I am so very excited to finally give the gifts that I have spent weeks purchasing, so excited to see Eli's face when he wakes up on Christmas morning, so excited for him to open that final drawer on the advent calendar and find the Baby Jesus for whom he has so eagerly waited. I'm excited for Christmas Eve dinner with Kelly and Phil, for cinnamon rolls as we open presents in the morning, just the three of us, for visits with precious family.

But most of all this year I am excited for the wonderful work the Lord has done in our hears to prepare us for Christmas. Advent, though practiced "loosely" in years past, has become so real to us this year, and Eric and I both feel like the Lord has truly been preparing our hearts as we wait to celebrate the birth of our King. And Eli has understood so much of it as well, which makes it all the more special to me and Eric.

I hope that you all have a very merry Christmas, filled with the joy of the Lord and the peace that Jesus brought to earth with his birth. Diety stepped into humanity; eternity burst into time; mercy spoke into legalism; peace was offered between holy God and sinful man. Jesus Christ, our Emmanuel was born at Christmas, and, without Him, Christmas is just another meaningless act we perform. Without Him, all of life is meaningless, to be sure. I pray that each of you knows Him and learns of Him more deeply this Christmas. Because, as cliche as it may seem to say, Jesus is the best gift ever given, and the only gift that will last for eternity. All other gifts pale in comparison with the gift of salvation from an eternity separated from God. May we all embrace what Jesus has done for us and fall on our faces in worship as we celebrate the day of His humble birth.

Blessings to all of you, with love!

The Diaper Man

2010-12-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

Eli has been showing all the signs that he's ready for potty training. His mother, on the other hand, has been avoiding it like the plague. :) I just can't seem to get myself psyched up for days of accidents on the rugs!

Anyway, I was talking to a friend about how we were going to potty-train our toddlers (she has a daughter Eli's age), and she suggested talking it up for a while and then using a similar tactic to the familiar "pacifier fairy." You know- the fairy comes and takes all the pacifiers away from a child and leaves a surprise in return? Well, this January, the Diaper Man is coming to the Wilson house. :)

It's adorable to hear Eli talk about it...

Me: Who's coming after Christmas?
Eli: Diaper Man!
Me: And what is he going to do?
Eli: Take all the diapers away!
Me: And what do you get?
Eli: Under-woo! (underwear)
Me: And then what happens?
Eli: Go pee-pee and poo-poo in potty!

We have this conversation about ten times a day. :) He's pretty excited about it, and I'm gearing myself up for it, too. The only problem is that he's confused the Diaper Man with everything that happens at Christmas. He knows all about Baby Jesus being born and what we do on Christmas Day, and he's heard a little about Santa (we're trying to downplay him, though), but he's thrown the Diaper Man in the mix, too. We'll pull a link off of the Christmas chain, and I'll comment on how close to Christmas we are. Eli will then say, "Diaper Man coming!" It's amusing. We're trying hard to take emphasis away from the Diaper Man now, though, but he's still lodged in Eli's brain as part of Christmas.

So, this year, we have Baby Jesus, Santa, and the Diaper Man. :)

"Baby Jesus Born!"

2010-12-10T11:52:00.001-08:00

This is what Eli says when we ask him what happens at Christmas. I have loved this Christmas season as I watch my toddler begin to understand what it all means. We have tried to be really purposeful with what we talk about and read, what we play with and sing about this month. We really want him to soak up the meaning of this season, to remember the truths that are illuminated through holiday traditions. Because, while he is too young yet to comprehend the meaning of the Son of God taking on human flesh to bring God's miraculous mercy to sinful man, he is definitely not too young to know that Jesus loves him, and that Christmas is when we joyfully celebrate His birthday.

We have an Advent calendar with 25 tiny drawers. I filled it this year with Scripture, family activities, service projects, and the characters from a tiny manger scene. Eli truly delights in opening a drawer every night. He gets excited when Eric reads to us the day's Scripture passage ("Daddy read Bible!") and loves to set up the little manger scene. Today he was playing with it, setting Mary inside the little stable, and he said, "Mary wait Baby Jesus." My heart just leapt, hearing my precious son articulate his understanding of what Advent is all about. Truly, we are waiting for Baby Jesus. We are preparing our hearts for the coming of the King- the humble, infant King born in the lowliest of places, breaking through time and space to bring the holiness and mercy of God to earth.

Eric and I have been reading Walter Wangerin's Preparing for Jesus, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Every day of Advent there is a devotion, a passage of Scripture to read, and a prayer. It has been so amazing to experience God's work in our hearts to deepen our understanding of what it means to wait for our King. We are so excited for Christmas morning, when we'll open the 25th drawer of the Advent calendar and find the tiny Baby Jesus, He for whom we so eagerly wait. Because, as cliche as it sounds to say it, the only reason we have to celebrate this season at all is that Baby Jesus was born.

Obligatory Thanksgiving Weekend Post

2010-11-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

Alright, here goes...

On Thursday morning Dallas woke up to rapidly dropping temperatures, high wind, and rain. We were registered for the 8-mile Turkey Trot, but we decided that morning not to run it, since Eli would have been miserable in the jogger while we ran. We want it to be a fun family Thanksgiving tradition, and Eli certainly wouldn't have had fun. So, sadly, we didn't run this year. We had already done several 8-mile runs in the previous weeks, though, so we still feel proud of ourselves for working up to that distance!

We ate french toast and got ready to go to Uncle Albert and Aunt Kathy's house in Justin. A perk of not running was that we got to actually look nice when we showed up versus showing up sweaty and nasty from the long run. :)

As always, being at the White's house was so much fun. It's the classic Thanksgiving there- lots of family, kids running around, tons of food, so much love and laughter and joy... it was just perfect. They even had a bounce house set up out back for all the kids. They all spent hours out there in the freezing cold while the adults all stayed inside drinking cider. :)

We went back to my parents' house for dinner with my sisters and their families, all of my cousins and their significant others, and my aunt and uncle. It was another big, wonderful meal with much-loved family, and we finished the night with crazy games, as usual. Eric and I completed the night with late-night turkey sandwiches, wine, and the Family Stone, as per our tradition.

On Friday we drove to Oklahoma to be with Eric's mom and stepdad for yet another Thanksgiving meal. It was fun to be with that whole side of the family, and Eli did so well on the long car trip. We are so thankful for wonderful families to be with during the holidays!

On Saturday morning we went to the Christmas tree farm to cut down trees with the Heinzs, another Christmas tradition. We stopped for donuts and watched the kids devour breakfast, and then it was on to the farm. Eli had been talking about this for the entire week... "BIG tractor pull us in hay wagon!" It was, as usual, such a fun time with some of our favorite people in the whole world, and the weather was perfect. It was the perfect way to kick off the Christmas season!

On Saturday my mom had the kids over for cookie decorating, though it was hard for the boys to focus because my dad had the train set up and running. :)

On Sunday we went to church, and then we dragged our exhausted-by-the-long-weekend selves back here for some much-needed time at home! Eric worked on putting lights outside, Eli took a long nap, and I spent time cooking and baking. And then we topped the day off with hot chocolate and tree decorating.

And with that, the Christmas season begins! I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgiving weekends as well!

Giving Thanks

2010-11-23T13:52:00.001-08:00

As I sat down to type out my "Things I'm Thankful For" list, I was reminded that there is no blessing too small for which to offer thanks. Because, really, all the small things aren't so small after all. And they all add up to the fact at every good and perfect gift is from the Lord (James 1:17).

So, for red maple leaves blowing around me, for the feel of Eli's hand in mine, for our cozy little house, for my beloved husband, for a crock pot of soup, for health, for time, for all the blessings abundant in this life of ours, I am thankful.

And most of all I am thankful for Jesus Christ, my gracious and merciful Savior, who gives the life that is truly life (1 Timothy 6:19).

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

Update

2010-11-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

It's been a long while between posts, but things have been great around here lately. We're just enjoying the fall, preparing for the holidays, and having fun! The picture is of carving pumpkins at Halloween (duh), and it's honestly the last photo I've taken with my camera in the past few weeks!

So that's it for this enthralling post. :) I hope you are all doing well!

Family Camping Trip

2010-10-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

Twice a year everyone on my side of the family goes camping all together. It's always such a blessing to spend this much time together, and I'm always reminded of just how blessed I am to have such an incredible family!

This year we went to Martin Creek Lake State Park in East Texas since our favorite state park is closed for rennovations. Martin Creek was a great substitute! The lake was so pretty; there were beautiful hiking trails; there was a fun playground for the kids; and it was small enough that we just walked everywhere, which I love.

The kids had a blast playing outside together the whole weekend. On Saturday night the power went out in the cabins due to a big, loud, gorgeous rainstorm, so Eli, Cooper, and Jacey (Kelly and Phil and kids had gone home by this point) stayed up until 11pm running and playing in the cabins by lantern light. It was really memorable and fun, once we got over the hassle of having no electricity! :) (It came back on around midnight.)

It was a fantastic weekend of hiking, swimming (in October!), playing games, fishing, feeding ducks, and just being together outdoors. We are so thankful!

Pumpkin Fest

2010-10-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the city had a "Pumpkin Fest" at the lake right down the road from us. They had a bunch of booths with games for the kids, candy, balloons, etc. Eli's favorite parts were the "choo-choo" that went around the lake and the pony rides. There was also a group there with a bunch of turtles, lizards, and ENORMOUS snakes. Eli, who adores all animals without partiality, was enamored with the snakes. I couldn't even bring myself to touch them, but Eli kissed each one of them and was really sad when we had to walk away. I fear the day when he asks me for a pet snake! :) Anyway, here are a few pictures...

Eric, Eli, Timothy, and Phil on the train ride. The younger boys are cooperating for the picture far better than the older boys. :)

Eli on the pony ride:

Inspecting a turtle with Pop-Pop:

It was a really fun, fall-y afternoon!

Pumpkins!

2010-10-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

We went with Sarah and the boys to the Arboretum's pumpkin patch on Wednesday. I love it there, and we had a good time letting the boys run around and play. Here are a few pictures:

And, for comparison's sake, here's Eli at the same pumpkin patch last year:

And the year before:

I can't believe how much my tiny baby has grown! I'm going to keep trying for the same pumpkin patch picture every year, to see how he changes every year. He'll love it when he's 15! :)

Cooper Lake

2010-10-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the three of us headed to Cooper Lake to camp. We had such a fun, relaxing time. The weather was perfect, and I don't think we could have been happier to be outside, away from everything, enjoying being together.

On Saturday afternoon we found a great little fishing spot, and Eric and Eli fished for hours while I sat under a tree and read. It was one of those "freeze time" moments- perfect weather, gorgeous scenery, listening to Eric and Eli talk and laugh and reel in fish, reading a great book... perfection!

It was a fantastic weekend all around. Some pictures...

Fishing with Daddy:

Super excited about roasting hot dogs:

Eli caught and reeled this one in on his own!

Swinging at the playground:

We love a good s'more!

Times are Good

2010-10-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

"When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future." Ecclesiastes 7:14

I think that as a believer aware of the "in this world you will have trouble" promise of Jesus, I have tended in the past to gloss over the truly good gifts the Lord gives to me because I am fearful of the "trouble" that inevitably lies ahead. I am a worrier by [sinful] nature, and I have spent much of my life worrying about what may or may not happen in the future. I have long realized this sin in my life and have had lessons to this end beaten into my hard head by the Lord more times than I can count. And while there may be hundreds of "more spiritual" reasons why we as believers shouldn't worry, I am realizing now more than ever that worry robs joy from otherwise beautiful, happy moments. And this is reason enough for me to try my darndest to live in the moment, free from worry.

Because, for as much trouble as is in the world as a result of sin, there are still abundant gifts from our good, creative, loving God. And He wants us to fully enjoy them, unhindered by anxious thoughts.

I love the above verse from Ecclesiastes; I find it to be infinitely wise in its simplicity. Are times good? Then be happy! Enjoy the goodness! Revel in the beauty and life that surrounds you! And when times are difficult, remember the God who makes one day as well as the other, the God who is always the same regardless of circumstances.

Saturday was a day to revel in. The fall weather called us outside, and we had one of those days that was just perfect in its simple beauty.

We began the day with our "long runs" of the week, Eric with his ipod, me with my dear friend Sarah. It was the first cool-weather run we've had in a very long time, and 5 miles is much easier in 60 degrees than 90! :)

After that we headed to a cute little cafe close by that recently opened. They had a bounce house set up, surprisingly, and Eli and Eric put it to good use. They both had a blast. (Forgive the poor picture quality- the only camera I had with me was my phone!)

Then it was off to the feed store to by a bale of hay to help decorate our front porch for fall. They have ponies there for the kids, and Eli, who adores all animals, was super excited for his pony ride.

From there we went to the book store, where we leisurely browsed the aisles- my favorite thing in the world.

And then it was on to buy pumpkins and mums to complete our outdoor festive decorations.

In the afternoon we baked cookies, played outside, and went to the park with the whole family, and then we topped it off with a family dinner once the tired, happy kiddos were put to bed.

The day was all things good. A time to rejoice in, to thank God for. And we were supremely happy.

We're Going Camping Now...

2010-09-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

Bonus points for anyone who can finish that line. :)

This weekend we went camping with our dear friends the Vavras. We ended up at Cedar Hill State Park after learning that our original destination was booked solid. I'd never been to this park before, aside from going for the hiking trails, and it was pretty nice. We got a campsite right on the lake, and the boys loved splashing in the water and throwing bread to the ducks. They even caught a few fish!

Despite the fact that it rained for a good portion of Saturday, we had a blast. Less hardy stock would have given up and ran for home, but not us! :) All of us just needed to be away from the busyness of everyday life and enjoy family and friends. And the boys couldn't have been happier!

It was a fantastic weekend, and we're looking forward to several more camping trips this fall!

3

2010-09-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today I have been married to my best friend for three years! I couldn’t be more thankful.

We got to get away for the weekend while my parents kept Eli and gave him the royal treatment. We so enjoyed the little break in the midst of the busyness of life and just had a blast being together!

I love being married to Eric. I love his selflessness, his humor, his humility, his integrity, the way he fathers Eli, his creativity, how hard he works, and his devotion to the Lord. He is the most rock-solid person I know, unwavering in faith, integrity, and humility in even the toughest of situations. I am endlessly thankful for the blessing of our marriage and for the family we have together.

Happy anniversary to us! :)

Maine!

2010-08-20T13:01:00.001-07:00

We spent the last week in Maine with my grandparents, who live there. It was PERFECT! I could write many very lengthy paragraphs about it, but I'll try to keep this short and sweet. :)

We started off early on Wednesday morning with a 5:30am flight, and we got to Maine in the early afternoon. We spent the afternoon on my grandparents' boat, and it was so much fun! Eli has never been on a "speed boat" before, and he LOVED it!

On Thursday we went to a place called White Lake State Park. It was one of the prettiest places I've ever seen! Mountains, perfectly clear water, sand, 75 degrees- PERFECT! Eli loved playing all day there, and so did we!

On Friday we drove to Boothbay Harbor, where, after walking around the gorgeous little seaside town for a while, we rode a boat to Cabbage Island for a traditional Maine clam bake. We ate lobsters, clams, and all the stuff that goes with them- it was a messy, delicious meal! Eli even ate clams and lobster!

On Saturday we headed to the beach. It was another gorgeous day, and we loved spending all day in the sun and water, building castles on the beach and body surfing in the waves.

On Sunday after church we spent the afternoon on the boat, which, again, was just perfect!

On Monday Eric and I took a long (and very steep!) hike while Eli hung out with my grandparents, whom he loves!, and then we all went to Diana's Bath, a natural rock/waterfall playground with freezing cold mountain spring water. It is a beautiful place, but I was a nervous wreck watching Eli scramble around on those slippery rocks! Fortunately he escaped with just skinned knees. :)

And after a relaxing morning at home on Tuesday, we headed back to Texas, leaving the gorgeous 75-degree Maine weather and trading it for 110-degree Texas heat. We were pretty sad to leave, but we are already planning our trip for next summer!

We are so, so thankful for this perfect week with our little family and with my wonderful grandparents, who made the trip so perfect.

Stuff

2010-07-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

I always want to start out a post with the words "I've been such a bad blogger lately," but then I realize, "Who really cares?" If being a bad blogger means spending more time with my kiddo at the Aquatic Center or pushing choo-choos on the floor, then I'll take the title of "Bad Blogger" any old day.

That said, here is a quick list of what's going on with us. This way when I read back through these entries years from now, I'll at least have a foggy idea of what we did with the summer of 2010. :)

-Water... Between my parents' pool and the local Aquatic Center, we spend most afternoons in the water. I honestly have run out of all creative ideas when it comes to afternoon activities. Eli wakes up from his nap and starts listing all the outdoor ideas he has for the afternoon... "Bike?" ("Too hot, baby.") "Boppies?" ("Too hot, baby.") "Frisbees?" ("Too hot, baby.") "Zoo?" ("Too hot, baby.") "Pool?" And off we go... There is just not much else to do with an outdoors-loving toddler during a Texas summer. Eli has gotten really comfortable in the water, wearing swimmies on his arms so that he can swim in the deep water. He loves the Aquatic Center, too, going down the big slide all by himself, straight into my waiting arms.

-Friends... We've enjoyed so many really fun, meaningful times with friends this summer. We are so thankful for the friends God has given to us, and we have loved the slower pace of summer that has allowed us to enjoy plenty of time just sitting and talking and sharing life with dear friends.

-Running... Eric is training for a marathon (which might be reduced to a half-marathon, joints depending), so running is a big topic of conversation around here. We watch documentaries about marathoners with tears in our eyes- that's how obsessed we have become. :) I've been running again, too, and, though a marathon or even a half is far out of my reach, I might just make it to a 10k sometime this fall. Look out! :)

-WORK! Yipes! Work has been a little daunting lately for me. Summer is always a busy time for us, but this summer has felt a little crazier than normal. And, while I adore my job, I really dislike the hours I spend away from my Eli. I'm super-thankful for Eric's flexible job, allowing him to compensate for the extra time I've needed to put in lately.

-Brunching... Summer is just a good time for eating brunch out. We're big fans.

-Preparing... We leave for Maine in 2 weeks! I am beyond excited about our first big family vacation together. But my anal self is also a little stressed about packing for all of us for a week, and fitting it all within the weight and size requirements imposed by the airlines. :) And a two-year-old on a 5:40am flight is also daunting. This will be the ultimate test of Eli's good-natured, unflappable compliancy. :)

And with that, I'll call it a night. I hope that each of you is enjoying the summer as much as we are. Much love!

The Weekend So Far... As a List

2010-07-10T16:01:00.000-07:00

-Yesterday Eli and I cleaned the whole house, taking frequent breaks to play. I love it when I get the [rare] opportunity to clean the whole house in one day, instead of in spurts throughout the week. I am such an anal clean-freak, but I love going into a weekend with a clean house! :)

-I baked an upside down apple cake in an iron skillet (PW's recipe). I don't like desserts that fall into the "warm fruit" category, but Eric adores things like this. It was a fun recipe to bake, and I can't get the linky thing to work on here, so if you want it, go to Pioneer Woman's site. :)

-We got takeout and watched a movie on the couch, as per our usual Friday night "home date" tradition. I fell asleep and missed the last half, also a Friday night tradition.

-Eric and Nick ran a 10k this morning as part of their marathon training plan. It took them an hour. My husband amazes me. When he got back, I jogged 2.5 miles without stopping- a post-college record, for sure. It's no 10k, but I was still proud. :)

-We went to Richardson Bike Mart so Eric could drop off one of his wheels for a reapair. Eli had never been there before, and it was like we took him into Heaven. The kid adores bikes (like his Daddy!), and to be in a place with thousands of bikes all right there in front of him was just about the best thing he could imagine. He touched just about every single bike in the store and kept walking around saying, "More bikes! More bikes!"

-We ate brunch at our favorite place- the Pancake House. All three of us looooove this place.

-Eli swam with PopPop and MomMom while Eric and I went to a wedding this afternoon. It was lovely!

-I baked "pillow cookies" (basically a cookie with a brownie center) for our family get-together tonight and did laundry while Eric and Eli went for a long bike ride.

-And now all the chores are done, all the baked goods are baked, all the miles are run (ran?), and we're ready for a calm, quiet, restful family Sunday, just like we like 'em.

I hope your weekend so far has been delightful as well!

The Little Things

2010-06-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

It's the "little things" that add up to happiness, I think. Little things like...

-Watching Eli sleep at night, all curled up on his belly with his hands underneath his face, bottom in the air, little feet crossed just right.

-A visit with an old friend who is more like a sister.

-A daily, sleepy kiss goodbye from Eric as he leaves for work every morning (at 4:30am!).

-Seeing pictures of a friend's precious newborn baby, and knowing the sheer joy that awaits her as she raises her new daughter.

-A cloudy afternoon.

-The way Eli says "frisbee"- "beebees."

-Peaches from a local orchard, both in and out of homemade cobbler.

-A gooooood new book and a glass of vino verde.

-Laughing at an "oldie but goodie" movie with Eric.

-Conversations with sisters.

-Quiet moments with the Lord before the day gets going.

Wow- when I stop to list all the "little things," the list really gets going! Let's do this more often...

For Eli's Daddy

2010-06-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Eric,

I always wanted to marry a man who would be a fantastic father. I eagerly anticipated the day when I could watch my husband play with my child. I imagined what a "family hug" would feel like, two big people and one little person, all wrapped up, so many words communicated in one big embrace.

And now? Now I look out the kitchen window as I clean up after dinner, and I see you pushing our son in a swing on the swingset you built for his first birthday. Now I get to watch as you teach him how to throw a frisbee, and I get to witness his excitement and yours when he "rips it" just as you taught him. Now I get to hear about your Thursdays together, about trips to Home Depot and the motorcycle store, about bike rides and toy rocket launches. Now I get to listen as our son laughs uncontrollably as you tickle him and wrestle with him. Now I get to see the giddiness with which he runs as he looks for you during one of your many games of hide-and-seek. Now I get to see how delighted our toddler is when you let him hold the fishing pole, let him "drive" your truck, let him "shave" when you shave- do you know how much he wants to be just like you? Now I get to hear you read him books and tell him stories, listen as you teach him about things big and small. Now I get to witness the sheer joy on our boy's face when he hears you open the door, when he sees your truck pull in the driveway- "Daddy home!" Now I get to listen to your prayers for his heart, for his salvation, for his character, hearing how you value the eternal in your son far more than anything temporal. Now I get to look on, watching you hold him, kiss his cheeks, stroke his hair in gestures of such deep, selfless love that literally take my breath away at times.

Now.

Now we have everything. Everything. We have each other. A family. You and me and our precious miracle of a son. You are building a relationship with Eli that will last for a lifetime. Your time, your love, your selflessness, your guidance, your example, your discipline, your words, your hugs, your relationship with the Lord- all of these are the tools that are shaping him into the man he will become.

And I hope and pray with all my heart that our son turns into a man who is just like his father.

I love our "now." And I love you.

Happy Father's Day (a couple days early),
Erica.

Birthday Weekend

2010-06-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

Eric kicked off his birthday weekend with a 62-mile bike race in 102-degree heat with his good friend Nick. I'd rather get a pedicure and drink a mojito, but it wasn't my birthday. :)

After he got home, we got to have a little "getaway" that I surprised him with! We left Eli in the expert, spoil-him-rotten care of my parents, and we had 24 hours all to ourselves! We saw a movie, ate dinner at Blue Mesa, crashed for the night at the Hyatt near Northpark, and ate cheesecake in bed. :) We also slept for 10 straight hours- I think the first time we've done that since before Eli was born! We reluctantly checked out the next morning and went to brunch at the Pancake House- our favorite breakfast place. Then we got to browse around Richardson Bike Mart for a while without a toddler knocking over all the bikes, which is certainly a treat! :)

Eli had a fantastic time with my parents, which I'm so thankful for, and we had a much-needed time to just rest and be together. It was perfect!

Today is Eric's actual birthday, and tonight he got a feast of fish cakes, roasted asparagus, and sweet potato fries. And I made him an Italian cream cake for dessert- the one time a year I make this time-consuming cake. :) He is so worth it, though!

Happy, happy birthday to the greatest man I know- my husband!

Under Construction

2010-06-01T12:37:00.001-07:00

Forgive the mess of this blog from time to time- a good friend of mine is working on helping to redesign the banner, etc. Until then, things might look a little sloppy! :)

Happiness

2010-05-24T19:51:00.001-07:00

This afternoon I sat outside watching Eli play with his cousin Timothy. They climbed up and down the play cube, went up and down the slide, dug in the sandbox, and tossed sand all over the ground. They splashed and played in the little pool and laughed with abandon. Eric came out to watch the two boys while I cooked dinner, and I got to look out the kitchen window at my dream come true:

My beloved husband playing with my treasured son and my sweet nephew, the dogs running nearby. A green yard, a hot Texas sun, a kiddie pool filled with cool water. Laughter and two-year-old babble, giggles and splashes, dirty feet and wet clothes.

Joy.

Tears filled my eyes as I looked outside at this simple scene. I am overwhelmed with the blessings of the Lord. This is what I have always wanted. I pray for a heart that fully realizes the abundant gifts the Lord gives to us and for a spirit that is calm and quiet enough to revel in the simple, beautiful blessings of everyday life.

On the Mend?

2010-05-12T06:10:00.000-07:00

Eli has been sick for a full week now. Whatever this virus was that spread its way through the church nursery, it kicked Eli's tail! It was a nasty one. But I'm pleased to say that he slept through the night without too much coughing for the first time in a week! He's still asleep, actually!

I'm hoping that he wakes up cheerful and hungry- two qualities that have been missing in him since last Tuesday! The poor guy has lost a whole pound, and he's been so clingy and sad and whiny. I miss the real Eli!

In other news, he's talking so much now. He's putting words together all the time now, which is fun to hear. I kind of thought he'd never talk, but he's making some progress, slowly but surely. :) Here are a few phrases I hear about 4,000 times a day (He's nothing if not incredibly persistent!):

-"Beast out!" (meaning, "Please let our 100-pound ball of energy puppy out of her pen so that she can knock me down and lick my face until I drown in dog slobber.")
-"Bike please!" (meaning, "Take me for my 5th bike ride of the day, because I never, ever, ever tire of riding in the seat on the back of your bike while you huff and puff your way up and down the hills of the surrounding neighborhoods."
-"MomMom's house!" (meaning, "I want to visit MomMom and PopPop because they always give me candy and let me do whatever I want. That's what grandparents are for, right?")
-"Where's Daddy?" (meaning, "Daddy should be home at all times! What's up with this job thing that he goes to every day?")
-"DeeDee please!" (meaning, "I need my blanket so that I can cuddle up in your lap with it and remind you that I'm the absolute sweetest, snuggliest little boy in the whole world.")

Eli's 2nd Birthday

2010-05-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Eli's birthday on Saturday, May 8 with a party in our backyard. All of our family- both my side and Eric's- were able to make it, as well as a few close friends. The kids had a blast playing together, and the adults enjoyed talking and eating and being outside in the gorgeous weather.

Eli has been sick for the past few days, and I felt badly that he wasn't "in his prime" for the party, but he did pretty well. He got a bunch of really nice gifts, his favorite of which include a tricyle, a sandbox, and a little table and chairs. He rides his tricycle around everywhere- the kid is obsessed with bikes!

I made a cake that looked like a lion for Eli. He loves all animals, and lions are his favorite. He was excited to see it and roared right on cue. :)

It was a great afternoon celebrating our sweet birthday boy. His birthdays are emotional for me, because I can't ever forget how far he has come. I remember so clearly the first time I held him- he was hooked up to a ventilator and all kinds of tubes and wires. He was the tiniest baby I'd ever seen, so fragile and sick, and we honestly didn't know if he'd make it or not. And yet here he is now- a healthy, vibrant, energetic two-year-old. He is our miracle! We are endlessly grateful to the Lord for the way He has cared for Eli.

On Sunday morning I went in to kiss him at 5:04am, the time he was born. We gave him a little present on Sunday morning, just so he'd have something to open on his real birthday, and we ended our family day with a little cupcake with two candles. (Sorry the picture is so blurry! I dropped our camera the other day and it hasn't been the same since! Time for a new one, I guess!)

I loved that his birthday fell on Mother's Day this year, too. Eli is the greatest Mother's Day present ever! Eric surprised me with having my engagement ring re-set, and it's gorgeous! I also got flowers, a super-sweet note, a massage, and a looooong Sunday afternoon nap. It was a perfect day. :)

And now I have a two-year-old! Let the fun begin! :)

2 Years Old

2010-05-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

My dear, sweet Eli,

Today you are two years old! I can hardly believe how quickly the time has passed, how you have grown from a baby to a boy right before my eyes. And, while I am so excited to watch you grow and change and learn all about the world around you, I must admit that part of me wants you to stay little forever! Part of me wants to freeze this 2-year-old moment- I love who you are!

You are a joy, Eli Dane! I mean that with all my heart. You are the most compliant, cheerful, eager, interested, fun little kid I've ever known. I just love being with you! At two, you are into climbing, splashing in water, pushing or riding anything with wheels, throwing rocks in water, going to the zoo, playing with your cousins, riding the little cars (which you call "Boppies"), watching Barney (which you call "Daddoo"), playing with Daddy, bike rides, being tickled, and holding your blanket (which you call "Deedee"). You are learning how to talk and are just starting to put words together, though we can't always understand what you're saying. :) You're a ham, too, when you want to be, and you are always making us laugh with the things you do and say.

You are the sunshine of my life, Eli. Your smile and laugh light up everything around you, and feeling your little hand grab ahold of mine is one of the greatest feelings in the world. I love you with all that I am.

You had such a rough start, sweet boy. But you fought and fought and worked so hard to overcome so many obstacles and get where you are today. You went from my tiny, little, 2# 13oz. preemie to my big, healthy, energetic, 20# boy! I am so proud of you!

I wish you the very happiest of birthdays today, my precious boy, with prayers for many, many more. You are our MIRACLE, and your Daddy and I pray every day that you will soon come to love and serve the God who has held you safe in His hands since before you were even born.

I love you with all of my heart, Eli. I am so, so proud of you. Happy 2nd birthday, Pumpkin!

Always,
Mommy.

Recap

2010-05-02T20:20:00.001-07:00

Whew! This weekend has been a whirlwind of activity, but it has been so much fun!

On Friday the three of us drove to Waco to meet up with my dear college friends Matt and Jenn and their precious kids. Jenn and I were roommates in college, and they still live and work in College Station. We see far too little of each other, so this weekend we both drove to Waco, the halfway point between here and there, and met up at the zoo. The kids all had a blast- the zoo is really nice, and they have an amazing play area that entertained all of them for what seemed like hours!

After the zoo we had a picnic in the park. There was a splash pad right there, so the kids played in the water for the longest time. We had such a good time, and I am so thankful for our dear friends! (And, of course, I failed to get a picture of all 6 kids!)

On Saturday we went to a reunion for the Baylor NICU babies. I was surprised at how emotional I got when we were on our way. Just the thought of where Eli was and how far he has come was enough to bring me to tears. We are so thankful for the doctors and nurses that the Lord used to care for our precious boy, and we couldn't be more grateful to be the parents of this sweet little miracle!!!

Baylor did the whole event up so big- it was perfect for little kids. They did a huge cookout, had tons of bounce houses and games, and we just enjoyed being outside at the Landry Center, which is gorgeous!

After the reunion we went to a birthday party for one of Eli's church buddies, C.J. All the kids had a blast on the slip-n-slide, and all the adults just enjoyed talking!

And as if a napless day in the sun, running around, and playing with his friends wasn't enough, we let Eli stay up way past his bedtime to enjoy a big cookout at my parents' house on Saturday night. My grandparents are in from Maine, and it was so fun to have the whole family together for dinner, a fire, dessert, and plenty of talking and laughing.

Needless to say, we put a very exhausted toddler to bed last night! He almost didn't even wake up in time for church this morning!

We had such a fun weekend with family and friends. I hope that yours was great as well!

More P365

2010-04-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

I've really been enjoying this "P365" thing. On most days, I have plenty of pictures to choose from, photos of our normal daily events. And then there are those days when I completely forget to get out the camera and remember at 11pm that I haven't taken my daily picture. Therefore, I have several great shots of Eli sleeping. :) Hopefully I don't forget much more, because there is only so much you can do with a sleeping toddler, photographically speaking. :)

Anyway, here are a few from recently:

April 6- fixing his bike with his tools. This is one of his all-time favorite things to do.

April 13- climbing at the playground. Climbing also ranks among Eli's favorite pastimes.

April 14- We were attemping a picture of all the cousins in the bluebonnets, which turned out to be a massive failure. I don't know if it's possible to get a good shot of three 2-year-olds, a 4-year-old, and a 4-month-old! But my sister snapped this cute one of Eli, though. We'll try all five cousins again soon, though I doubt the results will be much improved. :)

Have a great week!

Camping

2010-04-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went on our annual spring camping trip with the whole Bergstrom side of the family. As always, we had a blast! The weather was absolutely perfect, and I don't think we could have had a better time.

Eli had a blast taking long walks, fishing, riding in the boats, splashing in the water, and playing with his cousins. He is such a happy, cheerful kid- he is a joy to be around! We love taking him camping because I don't think there is anything he enjoys more, and we happen to feel the same way ourselves. :)

A little fishing:

A lot of walking:

Plenty of splashing:

Some boating:

It all adds up to a perfect long weekend away. We are so thankful!

Easter

2010-04-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Easter! What a beautiful time to really reflect on what the resurrection means to us. God heaped all of our horrible sins upon His only Son and poured out His wrath upon Jesus Christ. Then He conquered death by rising from the dead. There is no greater gift, no greater reason to celebrate than this! Praise be to our gracious God!

Easter weekend was a joyful, fun time this year. We got to spend some time with Eric's mom on Saturday morning, and then on Saturday afternoon my parents had an egg hunt for the kids. I wasn't sure if Eli would "get it," but he ran out the back door and hunted eggs like an old pro! He picked up way more than his fair share, and Eric kept sneaking them out of his basket and re-hiding them to give his cousins a fighting chance. :) We enjoyed dinner on the backyard patio, with sticky buns for dessert (my favorite Easter tradition!).

On Sunday morning Eli was, of course, elated to see baskets full of candy and treats. Sunday School and church were fantastic, as was Easter dinner with the whole family afterwards. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend!

Praise the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is risen indeed!

Friday

2010-04-02T06:27:00.000-07:00

"Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.

But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.

All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him."

Isaiah 53:4-6

Persistence

2010-03-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

Eli has a good amount of persistence. When he sets his mind to something, he will get it accomplished. I love this about him, but there is one particular application of this persistence that tests my patience more than a little. :)

He will randomly think of something or someone, and it takes a good fifteen minutes and perhaps 500 repetitions of the same word to get it out of his brain. And he wants me to answer him with every repetition.

Example:

Eli: [random thought popping into his brain] Bike?

Me: Oh! Did you remember that you took a bike ride with Daddy yesterday?

Eli: Bike? Bike? Bike? Bike?

Me: Yes, you ride the bike with Daddy sometimes.

Eli: Bike? Bike? Bike? Bike? Bike?

Me: Honey, we can't ride the bike right now- we're driving in the car right now.

Eli: Bike? Bike?

Me: No, baby, not right now.

Eli: Bike? Bike? Bike? Bike? Bike? Bike? Bike?

Me: Maybe later. Please stop asking about the bike now.

Eli: [loudly, with more persistence] Bike? Bike? Bike?

Me: No, sweetie.

Eli: Bike? Bike? Bike? Bike? Bike? Bike?

Me: [beyond annoyed, trying to exude patience] No.

And this will go on for literally fifteen minutes. It's cute at times, and it definitely make me laugh, but it drives me nuts at times, for sure! :)

He does this with people, too. His latest favorites have been Nick and Sarah, which, the way Eli says it, sounds like "Nice and Rara." Heaven forbid that Sarah call during the day, because that will set Eli off on a monologue about their whole family that will last a good portion of the morning.

P365

2010-03-09T20:11:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of P365? Not to be confused with P90X, this is a much more fun and much less exhausting project to embark on.

P365 is basically just an effort to document every day of your child(ren)'s life for an entire year. It was created as a scrapbook thing- take a picture and then scrapbook about it. But I am about as far from a scrapbooker as a girl can get, so I decided instead to just do a daily picture and write a little note about each one in a notepad document, so that I can look back and see what has happened in this year of Eli's life. Ideally, this would have either started on Eli's first birthday or on January 1, but I always forget my camera. :)

For the past 5 days, though, I have successfully snapped a picture of Eli. And thus begins P365- I will not be thwarted!

Here are days 1-5. And no, I will not be posting all 365 pictures, much to your relief. I tried to choose pictures that were indicative of each day, not just a random "good shot."

March 5- playing on "cars" in the driveway. He spends hours on end riding up and down the street, up and down the driveways, with me and/or Eric frantically chasing after him.

March 6- watching Eric work in the vegetable garden, soon to be planted with all our tiny seedlings!

March 7- a rainy Sunday spent at church and then inside. This was when I remembered that I had to take a picture that day and made Eric and Eli stand outside on the porch before bath time. I'm an outstanding photographer of candid moments, I tell you.

March 8- another rainy day spent mostly indoors. Eli's favorite rainy day activity is banging with metal spoons on metal bowls. I tolerate the racket only when there is no other option for entertainment. :)

March 9- I worked all day and then left 30 minutes after I got home to go to Awana, so the picture I had to resort to was Eli totally sacked out in bed when I got home. Eric wore him out with hours outside this afternoon, and I looooove the deep sleep of a little boy tired from playing!

I wished so much I had my camera this afternoon when I watched Eli run around outside for a few minutes after work. He ran into our neighbor's garden and sat down on a little stone deer to "go for a ride." :)

Have I bored you yet? Regardless of the bore factor, I am committed! I heard it said once that you will never look back on a picture of your child's life and say, "I wish I hadn't taken so many pictures of him." I am trying to soak up and remember every minute of this toddler phase. So here's to P365! :)

Spriiiiiing!

2010-03-04T20:30:00.000-08:00

Can it be that we have said goodbye to the last of the extremely cold winter days? Oh, how I hope so! I am soooooo ready to devote long mornings and afternoons to taking walks, feeding ducks, climbing on playgrounds, finding sticks, swinging, digging, exploring, and all the other pleasant outdoor things that come with having a toddler boy. I honestly never thought much about winter besides, "Boy it's cold." But now that we have a toddler that thrives when he is outside and wilts when he is not (much like a plant!), I've been wishing this winter away every since it began. So bring on the spring!

The one thing I am dreading about spring is daylight savings time beginning (or ending- which is it?). I loathe anything that messes with Eli's schedule, and I'm pretty sure most moms of young kids feel the same. Eli already likes to go to bed late (8 or 9pm, which we consider late!) and sleep late (8:30 or 9am). I'd much prefer him to go to sleep around 7pm and wake up around 7am, thus giving Eric and I a decent chunk of time alone together in the evenings. He goes to work at 5am, so he tries to be in bed by 9pm at the latest. Anyway, all that to say that I am dreading daylight savings when Eli will want to go to bed at 10pm and wake up at 10am. Any tips on slowly changing a child's schedule to look more like you want it to look would be greatly appreciated.

And, on that extremely boring note, I will wish you all a happy beginning of spring (unofficially) and head to bed to rest up for the fun day of outdoor activities we have planned for tomorrow!

Recently

2010-02-22T17:24:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a few weeks, mostly because I've been trying to limit my time on the computer to the times when Eli is asleep. And then when he is asleep I think of 103 more pressing things to do, so blogging has fallen to the bottom of the list.

Eric is putting Eli to bed now, so I thought I'd take a minute to give a little recap. Here are the top five things happening around the Wilson household lately:

1. Snow! Like every other Dallas-ite has already mentioned, we got a foot of snow a couple weeks ago! It was insane! Eli was entranced by it, but he quickly figured out how miserable it is to be soaking wet and freezing cold, being as the closest thing we came to snow gear was triple layers of clothing. :) We Texans just aren't prepared for snow! But we enjoyed it while it lasted, and now we wait all too eagerly for the hot Texas summer!

2. Injuries. Eli has a few things going against him when it comes to injuries, head injuries in particular. One: He has a really big head and a really little body. He's fairly top-heavy. :) Two: He is fearless. Three: He looooooooves to climb. This kid gets more bruises, scrapes, and bumps on his head than any kid I have ever seen! He is contantly running at top speed only to crash into something, climbing up onto something insanely high only to jump right off, and biting his lip as he tumbles wrecklessly over whatever is in his path. We jokingly talk about getting him a crash helmet, but I think Eric and I are both seriously considering it! :)

3. Valentine's Day. On Valentine's weekend, Eli and I baked cookies for friends and family and made a red velvet cake for Eric. Eric cooked me a fancy steak dinner and had a huge bouquet of tulips delivered to me! (I know it's so cliche, but the way to my heart is truly through flower delivery! :) ) Eric got new Crocs, and Eli got a new tool set. And, of course, what Valentine's Day would be complete without huge boxes of chocolates? :)

4. Words, words, words. Eli's vocabulary has exploded lately. I thought he would never talk, and then all of the sudden he is repeating most everything that I say. Of course, 90% of what he says is not understandable, but still. :) I'm really proud of how much he's learning!

5. Gardening. Eric is starting our seedlings for our spring garden, and this weekend he and Eli spent a good amount of time digging out the garden plot for the spring/summer. I'm so excited to have home-grown veggies again! And I love watching my two boys dig in the dirt together. :)

That's about all from our little house! I hope all is well with you guys too!

Monkey Man

2010-02-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

Eli has always been a climber, but recently he has gotten just tall enough to finally accomplish most of his climbing goals. I walk into rooms and find him standing on the chairs, the couch, the toy piano, the table, his toy fire engine, and, most recently, a combo of windowsill and elliptical trainer. He is adventurous, curious, fearless, and strong- a bad combo. :)

I don't know what to do, because, on the one hand, I love that Eli loves to climb, and I don't want to stifle his natural abilities and what he likes to do, but, on the other hand, I don't want to watch him get himself into dangerous situations and just sit by and let it happen! I'm trying to strike a good balance, but I'm sure I'll kick myself when he falls from somewhere high and ends up in the emergency room!

Either way, he's an adorable little monkey, and I love watching him learn and grow.

BOOM!

2010-02-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

I kept Heather's kids for her today, and, while three kids is definitely taxing at times, I had a blast watching Eli and Cooper (both around 20 months) play together.

Their main activity was pushing each other around on a fire engine push toy that we have. One of them would sit on it and the other would push (at maximum speed) until they ran into a wall. Upon impact, they would both scream, "BOOM!" at the top of their lungs, and then they'd dissolve into laughter. They did it over and over and over again, taking turns with who pushed and who rode. It was such a joy to watch my son and my nephew play so well together. I doubt there was anything else in the world that they would rather have been doing than playing together this afternoon.

My baseboards may pay the price for all the "BOOM"s, but it was, without a doubt, so worth it.

Eli at 20ish Months

2010-01-27T19:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Eli,

I kept close records of all your milestones and accomplishments, big and small, during your first year of life. I haven't done as good of a job at keeping records of all these things during this second year, though. But there are things about you that I never want to forget- how you are right now, right this second, right at this age. So here's a little summary of some of my favorite things about you at 20ish months. (And just for the record, I could go on and on and on with things I love about you!)

-You have started to pretend. You play "nigh-nigh" with your animals and with any person who will play with you, and you pretend to pick imaginary food up and feed it to yourself and others. I love watching your imagination begin to grow.

-You "fix things" with your tools. Uncle Steve and Aunt Autumn gave you "Handy Manny" for Christmas, complete with his very own tiny tool kit. You get out the screwdrivers, flip over your little tricycle, and work on it with your tools. It's adorable! But the thing that is most impressive is that Daddy and I never showed you how to do this- it's something that you came up with all on your own! You love tools, and you love watching your Daddy use tools- "fixing your bike" has come naturally to you!

-Your vocabulary is growing. You know tons of words and will use them clearly and appropriately from time to time, but I really think that you just don't care much about talking! :) You use the word "dee-dee" for a host of things- I think it's just your go-to for words you don't want to try to pronounce. You have just recently started repeating most of what we ask you to repeat, and when you decide you want to say a word right, your pronounciation is right on. But most of the time you just don't care much about words, so you babble with a made-up language all your own. You also know a lot of signs, which helps us when we can't quite figure out which "dee-dee" you want. :) You are just beginning to put two words together, too.

-You loooooooove to be outside. This has been true of you since you were just a baby. You love to take long walks, pick up sticks, throw rocks, and climb over anything you can find. We try to spend as much time as we can outside, both because you love it so much and because you have plenty of energy you need to burn off!

-You adore your Daddy. "Dadda" is the first word out of your mouth in the morning and the last word out of your mouth at night. You wake up, get out of your crib, and immediately begin to search the house for Daddy. Sometimes, when my words, "Daddy is at work" finally sink in, you get so sad that you cry! The two of you have a really special relationship, and I can't wait to see it continue to grow as you get older.

-You are a climber. You are strong and tough, and you love to climb up on anything you possibly can.

-You are a neat-freak! This is probably built into your genetic code, since both Daddy and me are super neat freaks. And I guess it's just natural for you to want to keep things clean, since you've seen your parents always try to do the same. But it's hilarious for us to watch you search for missing pieces to toys, throw away trash, and wipe up spilled juice- not because anyone tells you to, but because you just want to! :)

-You sing and dance! We love to watch you dance and "sing along" with songs that you hear. Yo Gabba Gabba is your favorite video right now (You call it "Babba."), and you dance your way right through it!

-You are a true joy. In all honesty, I couldn't ask for a better kid! You are mellow, compliant, eager to please, helpful, and so happy. You are, 99 days out of 100, a breeze! You have your moments, of course, but you are truly the joy of our hearts. You have a personality that is like sunshine- bright, clear, happy, warm. What a blessing it is to get to spend every day with you!

I love you, my sweet boy! I can't believe that you will be two years old in just a few short months. Time is flying by too quickly. But no matter how old you get, you will always, always be my baby.

WIth a heart full of love,
Mommy.

Nigh-Nigh

2010-01-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

One of the few words Eli repeats is "nigh-nigh" (night-night). He has recently started playing "nigh-nigh," lying down and pretending to sleep (with his eyes open, ironically) and then suddenly popping up and laughing hysterically. He'll go "nigh-nigh" in his high chair, on the bathroom floor, anywhere the mood strikes him.

He will also, at any time, point to any person near him and command, "NIGH-NIGH," meaning that you must lay your head down, close your eyes, and pretend to snore until he tugs your hair to "wake you up," at which point he laughs for a bit and then chooses his next victim. It's adorable. I love seeing him begin to "pretend" like this.

At the zoo this week he got a little stuffed giraffe. (He calls it "AAAAAAAHHHHHH," which is essentially a loud, prolonged growl used to signify giraffes, lions, tigers, and bears. Great vocabulary, I know. :) ) This morning he was sitting on the floor of my bathroom with his beloved blanket and the giraffe, waiting for me to get ready for work. I looked down when I heard him say, "nigh-nigh," and I watched as he laid his giraffe down on the floor, covered him up with his blanket, and then gave him a kiss. My heart melted! How cute is that? Of course, the giraffe was then rudely awakened by being flung into the air by little toddler hands, but I'm positive that he enjoyed being put to bed by the sweetest little boy I know. The boy who makes sure to give kisses before going to sleep. Oh, how I love him!

Synopsis

2010-01-19T08:20:00.000-08:00

I have been totally absent from the blogging world lately! And now that I look at this blog again and realize it's been quite a while since I've posted, I realize that I still don't have much of interest to report. :)

What have we been up to lately?
-Youth group retreat: I went last weekend to help with the church's youth retreat at Pine Cove. Though tiring, for sure, we all had a great time, and I'm really impressed with these kids!

-NFL Playoffs: This has been a great draw of attention, especially for Eric. :) After Sunday's slaughter, though, my interest has waned.

-Zoo: Eli and I took a trip to the zoo yesterday with Sarah and the kids. We all had a blast.

-Burgers: This is seemingly inconsequential, but let me just say that the Kobe burger at Cheesecake Factory is the best thing that you will ever put in your mouth. Eat one.

-Walking: Long walks are Eli's absolute favorite activity in the entire world. We take a good many walks during the week, and I don't even need to bring a stroller any more. Eli just walks along, picking up sticks as he goes, and burning off all kinds of energy. It's heavenly, especially in this warm January weather that we've been having lately!

-Colds: Can I just say that I strongly dislike cold/flu season? My kid needs a break!

-Trying to grow: Eli has had some trouble gaining weight lately. He actually lost a few ounces last month, which is always difficult for me to hear. With one cold after another, he just has trouble keeping his appetite up, and all the coughing makes him throw up a lot, too. Plus he's super-active, running around every minute that he's awake. And he has a tiny appetite to begin with! All that adds up to difficulties gaining weight. And that means a Mommy who is worried about her child's growth and the ever-looming possibility of a feeding tube. :( Eli is healthy and strong, just small, and we just continue to pray that his appetite increases and he hits some sort of growth spurt! We would LOVE to see some progress in this area, and we would appreciate all the prayer we can get!

I'm going to try to be a little more frequent with updates, so until the next one, have a great week!

2010 Begins

2010-01-03T21:20:00.001-08:00

I, for one, loooooove a clean slate, which is why I love the New Year! I love packing away Christmas and seeing how neat and tidy my house looks after everything is back in its place. I love getting back into a normal routine and normal eating habits after weeks on end of get-togethers and parties and eating vast quantities of extremely unhealthy things. :) I love how crisp and cold January typically is, and I love looking forward to spring, to the bulbs under the soil just waiting to come up, to the camping trips in warm weather and the trees starting to bud again. I love a New Year!

On New Year's Eve we were extremely wild and crazy. We went to my parents' house along with my sisters and brothers-in-law, ate a variety of yummy snacks, and talked until 11pm, when we celebrated the ball drop on Eastern time and then promptly went home to bed. I told you we were wild and crazy! :)

On New Year's Day we went to a big family gathering at Uncle Albert and Aunt Kathy's house (Eric's side of the family). They always cook a huge Japanese feast and play games and eat and laugh all day long. It was so much fun!!! Fresh, homemade california rolls, suki yaki, a vast assortment of Japanese snacks and candies, and mochi with sweet sauce for good luck- it was heavenly! Eli loved being there, too. He had a blast playing with the kids and Uncle Albert while Eric and I just enjoyed talking with everyone and eating the awesome food. We had such a great day!

We spent much of Saturday with our dear friends Nick and Sarah, celebrating a joint birthday for Sarah and me. We ate at one of our favorite places, Istanbul Cafe, and talked forever. It was such a treat to be kid-free (thanks, grandparents, for the babysitting!) and have a long, leisurely lunch with great friends.

We went to church this morning and then came home and finished packing up all the Christmas stuff while Eli napped. Our house is super-clean from top to bottom- the only time it will be this clean all year. :) And this afternoon we watched the Cowboys beat the Eagles in a shut-out game! It was the perfect way to end the holiday weekend. :)

I hope that you are all having a great start to 2010. May we all learn much from the Lord this year and listen closely to His voice in any and every path on which He leads us.

Happy New Year!

Christmas '09

2009-12-28T19:36:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! On Christmas Eve the joy level was so high I though I would explode, actually! :)

On Christmas Eve, Eli and I spent the day together here at home, baking and just enjoying being together. And the best part of the day was that it was SNOWING! Eric got home from work early in the afternoon, and we went to visit our neighbors, bearing Christmas cookies. It was fun to walk around outside in the snow!

Before Eli's bedtime, we each opened our Christmas Eve gifts (pajamas) and read the Christmas story. Then, while Eric put Eli to bed, I cooked dinner (everything but the steak) for Eric and myself and Phil and Kelly. We did it up right- garlic parmesan mashed potatoes, spinach and artichoke dip, green salad, ribeyes grilled by Phil, champagne cocktails, and cheesecake for dessert. This has become our Christmas Eve tradition, and it is so much fun! A fancy table with fancy food on the best night of the year- perfection! And after a wonderful dinner, Santa came! :)

Eric and I opened our presents to each other on on Christmas Eve night, which was really nice. As always, Eric gave me great gifts, and I think Santa got him a few good ones too. :)

On Christmas morning Eli got to open his presents from us, which was so fun to watch. His big gift was a rocking horse.

He was most concerned with picking up all the wrapping paper and putting it in the trash. It was hilarious, and it reminded me not a little bit of me. :)

After that, we headed next door to my parents' house, where everyone gathered for the most insane gift-giving extravaganza I've ever seen. :) Three 18 month-old boys make for a crazy Christmas, for sure. :) My parents, as always, were so generous, and we had such a fun morning being with everyone!

We ran home after that and changed clothes and then headed to Eric's mom's house for a late lunch. She gave him this big stuffed lion for Christmas that he loves.

And finally, we drove to my uncle's house for dinner with my dad's side of the family, another big, crazy, super-fun get-together. Eli, however, had had a little too much Christmas by this point- he was worn out! We headed home and put him right to bed. He had a great day and was such a trooper as we went from event to event.

And, of course, no Christmas can be complete without a midnight showing of Avatar, right? Wrong. Well, wrong for me at least. :) Eric, Phil, Jonathan, and my dad went to see it late, late on Christmas night while the rest of us slept soundly in our beds. And that was our Christmas! Crazy? Yes! Perfect? YES!!!

Christmas Letter

2009-12-22T07:37:00.000-08:00

My sweet Eli,

Merry Christmas, baby! I am so excited to celebrate with you this year, because this year you will actually know that there is something really fun going on! Last year you just laid in the wrapping paper and watched as we opened your gifts for you. But this year? This year you will run into the living room on Christmas morning and notice a big pile of presents under the tree. You will get insanely excited as you rip the paper off of the boxes. And you will have a blast playing with all of your many new toys. You'll love running around with your cousins at Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop's house later in the morning, and you'll bask in all the attention lavished on you when we go see Daddy's side of the family later in the day. You will be the delight of our day. Christmas is just so much better with you!

I want to remind you of a couple things, because I imagine that someday you'll read back through these blog entries, this digital journal that I'm keeping for us, for you. First, I want to remind you of your precious Savior Jesus Christ who was born for you on Christmas day. Eli, there is no gift I want more in this entire world than the gift of seeing you trust Him as your personal Savior. He came for you, baby! He took on flesh and all the limits of humanity, all the horrible persecution we inflicted on Him, all the pain and agony of death on a cross... for you! For us! We open presents and get together with family on Christmas because we are celebrating the indescribable gift of Jesus Christ. We have talked about this so much already, opening one little drawer of our advent calendar every day so that we can help to tell you the story of the birth of Christ. We pray that in the coming years you will understand more and more fully what Christmas really means.

The second thing I want to remind you of is that I love you! I love you for who you are, and nothing could ever change that. But I also love you for what you do! I love your big personality, all the adorable sounds you make that comprise a language all your own. I love that you lift up your shirt a thousand times a day to see your belly button, asking "Where is it?" until you find it and then waving "bye-bye" to it as you pull your shirt back down again. I love that you wake up yelling "DAD!" I love that you take my hand when we walk and say "Mommy" over and over again when you sit in your stroller, just to make sure that I'm still there. I love how you climb all over everything, my little monkey! I love how smart you are, remembing what everything is and where everything goes, learning shapes and colors and words and sounds. I love how you adore your cousins and can hardly contain your excitement when you see them. I love that you love to wrestle and be tickled and chased and scared by us when we play hide and seek with you. I love that you call your toes "wee-wee," because we've played "This Little Piggy" a thousand times, and that last little piggy goes "wee-wee-wee-wee, all the way home." I love your affinity for sticks, how your favorite toy right now is piece of PVC pipe that is taller than you are. It stays outside, though, because you also love to knock things off the counters with it inside! :) I love your strong will and determination, and I also love your sweet spirit that is tender and teachable. I love YOU, Eli Wilson, from the top of your white-blond head to the tips of your adorable, tiny toes.

You are the joy of our hearts, baby, and we are waiting with childlike excitement to celebrate your second Christmas with you. I remember not being able to sleep as a child on the night before Christmas because I was so excited to see what was under the tree. This year I won't be able to sleep either, but now it's because I can't wait to see your reaction to what is under the tree! You will make this Christmas perfect.

I love you, sweetheart!

Mommy.

Weekend Update

2009-12-20T19:22:00.000-08:00

(I can't help but think of "Weekend Update with Norm McDonald" whenever I write a post about our weekend.) :)

This weekend was fantastic!!! It started off with a bang, because my sister Kelly had her second baby! Charlie Joseph was born early on Friday morning, a handsome, healthy, absolutely adorable baby. See for yourself:

They're all home now and doing really well. Charlie is incredibly precious, a perfect addition to our family, especially at Christmastime! We are all fighting over holding him already. :)

On Friday night my parents kept Eli so that Eric could take me out for my birthday. We ate at Blue Mesa, one of our favorites, and then went to see the Blind Side, which we loved. It was a fun, romantic evening out.

On Saturday we just enjoyed time here at home, wrapping presents, playing, and getting ready for the coming week. And then in the evening we watched the Cowboys beat the undefeated Saints! I think we all almost suffered heart attacks in that last quarter- it was so close!

Today we had our usual big Sunday breakfast, just the three of us, and then we went to church. Afterwards, Eli napped while Eric put together his rocking horse (Christmas present) and I finished wrapping all our gifts- finally! Wrapping is one of those things that always sounds fun to me in theory, but when I sit down to actually do it, I can't stand it. :) Tonight after Eli went to bed we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which, by our estimation, is perhaps one of the most quoted movies of all time. Classic.

We had a wonderful weekend and are super-excited about the coming week! I hope you guys are all doing really well, too!

Conviction from a Stranger

2009-12-17T21:03:00.000-08:00

Today on my way home from work I stopped at Wal-Mart to buy just a couple things. I quickly grabbed what I needed and then proceeded to join a really long line of disgruntled customers at the "20 items or less" register. Everyone was in a bad mood. It was 5pm, the store was packed, the lines were long- you get the picture. I admit that I joined the disgruntled mood of everyone else in line at Wal-Mart.

I didn't say anything out loud, but in my head I was thinking, "Why does Wal-Mart have to be so packed? Who are all these people? Where are all the checkers? I hate shopping in Christmas crowds!" Bad, right?

The elderly couple in front of me was particularly upset. But amidst his loud grumbling, the man was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder from the woman who was the next customer in the line right beside us. "Sir, you're welcome to go in front of me!" the woman cheerfully told him. The man was caught totally offguard and kind of brushed her off, but I was so stunned by her random act of kindness. This woman was next in line! She had probably been waiting for at least 10 minutes. She had every right to pay for her items and leave. But instead? She reached out to the person next to her and sacrificed her right so that he would be a little happier.

As I walked out to my car a little later, I saw this same lady walking quickly across the parking lot toward an older gentleman who was struggling with his many bags. "Sir!" she called, "Do you need some help?"

Once again, I was stunned. Who this lady was, I have no idea. She has no clue that I saw either of these acts of kindness. She was not being kind to get any kind of recognition or admiration from anyone. But she, with her smile, cheerful attitude, and bold offers of sacrificial help to those around her, impacted me greatly.

What a jerk I am for standing around grumbling in my head as I stand in line at Wal-Mart! What huge opportunities I miss every day because I act just like "the world" acts in ordinary situations. I don't sieze chances to choose kindness and joy over tiredness and selfishness. I stand in Wal-Mart thinking that I deserve better than to be there, that I have some kind of right to faster service, shorter lines, happier shoppers all around me. Who am I to think this way? Wal-Mart (figuratively and literally speaking) should be the prime spot for me to show off Christ. Because, as I clearly saw today, it's the mundane, ordinary, every day experiences and places that offer believers the best chances to act in a way that is totally different from everyone else.

That lady, that stranger, brought so much conviction to me today. The next time I'm in Wal-Mart, I want to act like her. I have countless opportunities every day to bring glory to God and kindness to others in places as ordinary as Wal-Mart. I'm praying that I'll sieze them a little more often!

Remember the Alamo

2009-12-15T20:36:00.001-08:00

We spent the better part of last week in San Antonio. I had a conference/seminar to go to for work, and Eric and Eli were able to come with me so we could make a little vacation out of the trip, too.

Eric and Eli spent the days tooling around town and taking naps at the hotel (jealous!) while I filled my brain with code and regulations regarding Safe Quality Food. After they picked me up from the conference, we'd spend our evenings eating out and just enjoying being together in a really nice hotel suite!

On Friday, since the conference was finished, we went to the Riverwalk. It was cold and misty, but we made the best of it, and Eli had a great time running up and down the sidewalks while we tried to keep him from falling in the water. We ate great Mexican food and discovered that there is only so far you can push a 19-month-old. After days of long car rides, late bedtimes, new surroundings, and shortened naps, Eli let us know on the way back to the hotel from the Riverwalk that he had had it. He sobbed his poor little eyes out for the entire ride home and then fell into a deep sleep that can only be rivaled by a coma. He never woke up in the transfer from car to hotel to pack-n-play. I felt terrible for how worn out he was!

But after a good long nap, he was as good as new, and we spent the evening with my long-time friend Amanda and her husband, James, who are newly expecting! (Congrats, guys!)

The next day, after purchasing a DVD player for the car and several annoying-to-parents-yet-entertaining-to-toddlers DVDs, we headed back to Dallas. We had such a great time and are so thankful to my company for making it possible! We were equally happy to be back home. Home is such a wonderful place to come back to. And now we've settled in to enjoying Christmastime together.

This Just Makes Me Laugh

2009-12-06T19:47:00.001-08:00

Eli's new favorite activity...

Sorry if this is boring. I'll admit that I'm a little biased. :)

Christmas Tree Farm '09

2009-12-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we went to the Walls Family Farm outside of Terrell to cut down our Christmas tree. I loooove this tradition. We did it every year when we were kids, and I love carrying this tradition over to our little family now as well. The farm is just picturesque- a big barn with a huge Christmas tree and homemade cookies and cider, riding in the back of a big tractor filled with hay, traipsing around a field full of pine trees, sawing one down all by ourselves, enjoying a fun experience with our dear friends (the Heinzs and the Vavras)... perfect, if you ask me!

Here we are on the hayride. Eli was completely enthralled with the tractor.

We wandered around for a while, letting Eli enjoy being in such a fun place (dirt, sticks, leaves...):

And then we found and cut down our Christmas tree!

It was the perfect way to kick off the Christmas season.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-29T21:32:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-17T12:13:00.001-08:00

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!

2009-11-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-11-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

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!