Happy 11 Month Birthday Eli!

Today is Elijah's 11 month birthday, which means the big one is only a month away!  I fee like I haven't posted anything in a really long time.  It's kind of like when you haven't talked to a family member or friend for weeks, you have to block out an hour to get caught up on everything!  I've posted a TON of pictures and video's, hopefully that will show you what Eli's been doing. 

Two weeks ago, Eli went to his first "swim practice" as Ben calls it.  Although he was apprehensive at first, the second week he was a little, kicking fish!  I couldn't believe how Eli was kicking his feet when Ben would float him across the water.  He had a great time and when Ben "accidentally" got Eli's face in the water, he was totally fine with it!  I can't wait to see what he's like next Saturday in the pool! 

Last Saturday, Eli's friend Ellie had her first birthday party!  It was an amazing carnival party and one couldn't thank Sally and Scott O'Neil for inviting our family.  We had such a good time hanging out with our friends and neighbors.  It was also nice that we could meet Eli's future in-laws since I'm certain he and Ellie and are either going to be the best of friends or a future couple;)  We joke that Eli is Ellie's younger boyfriend......which would make Eli's friend Grant her older boyfriend!  Love triangle begins!   As you can see, all of the girls at the party flocked to Eli and he kept running away! 

BIG NEWS before we went to the party:  Eli was playing with something on the end table.  I was watching him, but I was also trying to get everything together so we could leave.  All of a sudden I look down and there is Eli, hands-free playing with a water bottle top standing on his feet!!!  I wasn't sure what to do, but clearly Eli wasn't phased by my excitement because he stood there for a good 5 seconds before putting his hands back on the table and continued to play!!  NEXT STOP...WALKING!

I was lucky enough to have a co-worker getting rid of a slide this week, so I scooped it up for Eli.  He wasn't sure about it at first, as he is with everything, but today he and I spent a good half hour playing on it!  More or less Eli playing independently on the slide and me watching!  I'm pretty sure he didn't even realize I was there until I caught him trying to crawl out of the yard!

Enough from me, enjoy the photo's and video's!

Happy Birthday Ellie



This past weekend was Easter weekend and what better way to spend it than with food, family and the Tigers!  Sunday morning we had Aubrey, Dustin and Grandpa D come over for a brunch and virtual conversation via Facetime with Andi, Monica, Ed, John, Uncle Jim, and of course Ada and Mae.  Technology is amazing, we got to sit and eat in Michigan while watching the North Carolina folks sit and eat!  What a great morning. 

After we stuffed ourselves with sticky buns, egg bake and french toast casserole (and a little bit of fresh fruitJ) we headed off with Grandpa D to the ballpark.  What a gorgeous day to be sitting outside and enjoying our favorite past time.  Eli was such a trooper.  He slept the whole way down, and back, to the park and had an amazing experience while he was there (all of which he will not understand until he is much older).  During the warm up, the pitchers were walking to the bull pin (we have front row seats in section 142 by the bull pin), Eli’s big eyes caught the attention of one Phil Coke, reliever for the Tigers.  It was very intentional when he walked over to Elijah, bent down to his level, said hello and give him a high (or low in Eli’s case) five.  That was pretty cool and Eli handled it like a champ and didn’t erupt into a “stranger danger” episode!  Go Eli!  I guess bringing the cutest baby in the world to the ballpark has it’s perks!

We sit next to the ball boy, so there’s always a possibility of him giving us a ball.  BUT, on this day, a foul ball came all the way out to our seats.  This is unusual because of where our seats are.  We are kind of on a bump  out along the third base line so many folks grab the ball before it gets to us.  So Ben, with Eli in arm, stood up and bent over the rail to claim the ball for Eli.  It kind of reminds me of when Michael Jackson hung his baby out the window for the world to see, however Eli was only about 2 feet off the ground in the arms of his VERY careful father.

We only made it about 5 innings before Eli had had his fill of baseball and the ballpark.  We headed home and wouldn’t you know, the game turned out to be an exciting one where the Tigers beat the Red Sox in extra innings!  Go TIGERS!

What an amazing experience for our little boy, I hope someday he reads this and understands how special he is!

Enjoy all the photo's!

The past few days have been pretty uneventful, but eventful.  Although we haven't done much, we've been doing a lot.  OK, let me make more sense.  We haven't had any big events, but we have made some amazing memories with our little guy.  He had his first "dirty dinner" where Eli decided to wear his dinner as opposed to eating it.  He took his first bath in the big boy bath tub.  He's interacting like crazy and loves to laugh at you when you laugh at him.  He pushes his push toys all over the place.  He has stopped putting everything in his mouth and has limited it to most things.  He's such a little trooper, he now has 6 teeth and it hasn't caused him to be the least bit fussy...OK, maybe I'm fibbing a little, but he's been amazing!  I don't have much more to add, other than the photo's and video's below.  I will have more after this weekend when we take in a Tiger game on Kids Opening Day Sunday!

Rub a Dub Dub!

Bath-time fun

Pasta with tomato sauce....yummy!

Such a sweet little boy