More Please...

Elijah must be going through a growth spurt because in the last few days, this kid has been eating like crazy!  I am also very happy because my "picky eater" fears are quickly evaporating.  For a baby who didn't like most fruits and vegetables, his palate is beginning to expand greatly.  Today, he has eaten the following:

-Breakfast consisted of strawberries, blueberries, oatmeal with blueberries (cold so that he can grab it with his fingers in very messy little clumps), and about 1/2 a yogurt

-For lunch, Elijah ate chicken, steamed asparagus and carrots, the rest of his yogurt, and cheerios.

Dinner will take place here shortly, and I am excited to see what the little guy will try next! 
(FYI, he wound up eating a grilled cheese sandwich, a ton of green peas, and the rest of the strawberries). :)
Here are a few pictures from breakfast this morning.

"Yum, Yum, Yum...strawberries are delicious!"

Mommy: "But Elijah, I thought you didn't like strawberries?"
Elijah: "I said that?  You must be thinking of someone else!"

"Well, maybe I said it, but I definitely changed my mind."

"I think I'll have another."

"Sweet and fun to eat!"

"Down the hatch..."

"Did I already eat that whole bite?"

"Finger licking good!"

"Can I have just a few more, please?"

I'm Not the Perfect Mom

I've come to a realization in the past week that may come as a shock to you all...I'm not the perfect mom. :)  Okay, while this may not be a shock at all to most of you, it surprisingly came as a revelation to me.  While I have always "known" this to be true, this past week it all hit me in a new way.  Let me share a little bit just how "not perfect" I am in fact...

I don't take perfect pictures, and edit and touch up.  I don't resize, recolor, adjust the saturation, contrast, black and white, sepia, clean the background, touch up blemishes on the photo, make peoples' eyes sparkle, blur the background...or any other of the million things to do that make pictures look great that I don't even know about~ phew!  I don't go to artsy places to take my own pictures, or take Eli to a photographer for all of his big milestones to get professional pictures made.  I like it when Eli is looking at the camera and smiling.  He is not in the right or left "third" of the picture, but centered most of the time...if I can catch him.  My family photo album will never look like a magazine.

I don't have Elijah on a perfect schedule.  Naps vary from day to day, some days filled with two 1 1/2 hour naps (the good days) and others I may only get 10 minutes (the not so good ones)!  I am a babywise failure.  I am not always consistent, even though I try to be and know this is important.  I go to a Bible Study every Tuesday morning during his naptime, MOPS every other Friday, and Church on Sundays...the poor kid doesn't even have a chance to stay regular in his schedule!

I don't do all the "essential" activities for early learning and development.  My deprived little man is not in a swim class, or music class, or a playgroup.  I don't intentionally "work with him" to be the first to develop every skill, be it physical or mental.  We have not started "Your Baby Can Read."  He does not yet know how to identify all of the presidents just by looking at their picture on a flash card...and for that matter, neither do I! (and I used to teach history, yikes!)

I'm not a perfect "babyproofer" and a little undercautious when it comes to germs.  Truth be told, Elijah pulled the lamp over the other day, and then while I was picking that up he pulled the vacuum over, all under my watch!  I have been known to pick up toys and pacifiers off the floor and hand them back to him if it keeps him happy.  I let him chew on my keys even though I know these are not the cleanest options. 

And finally, I am a nutritional failure when it comes to the first year.  While I have continued to nurse, our solid foods have been a little less than par.  I have fed my child store bought babyfood, and it is not even all organic!  Elijah has tasted pizza and hamburgers but has never had kale or beets or mustard greens.  And, worst of all he doesn't like bananas.  I mean really, what kid doesn't like bananas?

As I sat pondering all of my shortcomings as a mother, the tip of the iceberg those that I have listed here, I began thinking, "Why me, God?  Why did you give this precious, sweet, incredible little boy to me?  I don't deserve him and surely can't be a perfect mom to him?"  God, in the still quiet whisper of His voice, filled with compassion, grace, and love, reminded me of a very simple truth.  I am not perfect, but He is.  And while I, in and of myself, can never do it all, I trust in the One who has done it all.  He is my strength.  "God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Cor 5:21.  I am so very far from perfect, but in God's sight I am seen as righteous, not because of my works, but because of Christ.  Hallelujah. :) 

While I sat there rocking my sweet, sleeping boy (in sweats, unkempt hair, house a little messy, no makeup, laundry not put away, and dinner not gourmet), I was also reminded that God knows me.  He knows my strengths.  He knows my weaknesses.  He knows me so intimately because He made me, and He most of all is not shocked that I am not the perfect mom.  But he gave this child to me, specifically and intentionally to me, because no one, I repeat no one, could love him more.     

Little E, Big E

One of the things I love most is watching Ethan and Eli play together!  Seeing my two boys giggling away and enjoying some sweet (I mean manly) daddy/son moments together just melts my heart.  I am blessed to have married a man who is not only an incredible husband, but an unbelievably wonderful dad as well. Here are a few pictures I snapped during some of that daddy/son play time. You can tell by the look on his face that Elijah loves his Daddy...and I'm pretty sure Daddy adores his little buddy too. :)     

Cuddled up on Daddy's lap...one of Elijah's favorite spots!

The two boys I love most in this world (not offense Boomerang...)

Get ready...

Daddy is the best "airplaner" ever!

Insert excited kid laughter here.

The little mister could play this game for hours!

"Gosh that was fun!"

"I love you Daddy."

"Okay, time to go again!"

Ethan bought Elijah a little present the other day.  It was a little sports set with an A&M football, basketball and soccerball.  Elijah is totally into balls and trucks at this point...a genuine boy indeed! 

"Thanks for the new toys, Daddy!"

Sense of Humor

Things around here have been hectic lately and thus blog updates have been few and far between.  Even now, I really need to go do a little cleaning, but want to share a few quick pics and Eli stories.

Elijah is just getting more and more fun each day and Ethan and I can hardly believe our little guy is coming up quickly on 1.  Recently, he has started to display such a little sense of humor and it cracks me up when he makes himself laugh.  On of his favorite "jokes" to play is to pretend like he is going to give Daddy his food and then pull it back at the last second and put it in his own mouth.  He giggles like he really fooled us and will proceed to do this 10 times in a row. :)  Another thing that he finds to be hilarious for some reason is if he is standing on one side of the bed, peering up over the side and sees you/you see him from the other side.  He just starts laughing away every time you look at him from across the room!  He will do this when Ethan is getting dressed in the morning or when I am putting away laundry and it is just the cutest thing.  I have no idea why this strikes him as so funny, but what can I say, he must just be a silly guy like his daddy (for we all know I am the very serious one in the family and come from a long line of serious people...) :).  He also loves to look at himself in the mirror in front of him in his carseat (so we can see him from the front seat).  He will make faces and just talk away and is clearly very entertained by checking himself out.  He loves to play "chase" where I will crawl after him, and then if I turn and crawl the opposite direction he will race toward me just laughing hysterically.  Finally, he has gotten to where he loves to stick out his tongue.  He will make a "lalalala" sound and just play with his tongue, and if I do it back he breaks out to a big grin and laughs that mommy is playing with him. 

I wish I had every single one of these things on video and documented in pictures to keep forever because I know that these moments fly by SO quickly!  I will try to refrain from getting all sappy and will sum it up by saying that I am so thankful for each giggle, each smile, and each silly joke our little man plays on us.  He is such a sweet natured, happy, boy and we praise our Magnificient God who created him for entrusting this precious child to us.  We consider ourself blessed beyond our wildest dreams and love this little guy so much!

Here are just a few pictures of Elijah sticking out his tongue today as we were about to drive home from the grocery store.

Sticking out his tongue, having a good ol' time!

"Lalala!"

Such a silly little boy :)

I love his eyes in this one

One more for good measure...

Check out that handsome little mug...he looks like such a big boy!

"Are you still taking pictures, Mom?"

Ethan makes this face too when I take one too many pictures...

Oops, pushed past the picture limit.  Time to go!

Back at home and free to play!

One quick smile and then he's off! :)

Zebra Rocker

Let's just see if you can figure out what happened here by yourself.  Not a lot of explanation necessary. :)

The Great Outdoorsman

Elijah has won over his Mommy's heart, yet again, by his love for the great outdoors!  I LOVE to be outside and have recently discovered that Eli does too.  The weather has been unbelievably gorgeous lately and my favorite little mister and I have worked on soaking up ever minute of it.  The last few weeks have been full of play time in the park near our house, picnics in the backyard, and long walks around the neighborhood.  I am so glad that Elijah likes to share time outside with Mommy because there is plenty more to come!  Here are a sampling of pictures from some of our recent outdoors time.


Play time at the Park

Checking out the park bench, which of course is much more fun than the two huge play areas and swings right behind him :)

In case you are wondering, he was opening to try to lick the park bench until Mom intercepted...even I have my limits!

I just can't get enough of this little guy...he just looks like such a big boy!

"Mom, are we going to do anything cool or just stand around and take pictures all day?"

"Like what are those kids doing over there?"

Love the curls

"I'm outta here..."

"Now this is what I am talking about!"

"Slides are so cool!"

Oh the joys of childhood.  I love that he is having this much fun just banging on the slide.  Just wait till he is big enough to go down it! :)

"Mmmm, doesn't this look good."

"Tastes like chicken, Mom, you should try some."

More Park Outings

Elijah also loves to swing

This is his favorite toy at the park

He likes to stand and spin the orange things

Eli sitting with his little frog legs...how is that comfortable

My fun is watching the little guy play!

Man's best friend.

Going for Walks

"Mommy, why don't you let me drive today?"

Open Doors

Every time Elijah sees an open door he makes a bee line for outside.  Here he is exploring our front walkway.

Back Yard Picnic

Enjoying a delicious picnic lunch in the backyard with Mom and Boomerang

"Let's see, what do we have here?"

More interested in the lid than the food.

I love how he eats with his whole fist.

The spread...beans, bread, and cheese, yum! :)

The clean up crew.

Ah, buddy, you have a couple of crumbs on your face.

Just loving the great outdoors

More Backyard Fun

I wish I could say my little genius was putting on the rings, but we haven't quite gotten that far yet.

He does like to take them off and throw them, though. :)

Two things crack me up about this picture. The way he is trying to smile and squinting because of the sun, and the way you can see the shadow of my hand taking the picture in the bottom corner. 

*Okay, so I know that was a ton of pictures.  I just can't help it...I am a biased mom who is not good at narrowing them down, so I just decided to post them all. :)