Family Day at the Park

Eli received this wagon for Christmas from Santa and absolutely LOVES it!! Most of the time we just pull him around in the house but we took him to the park the other day and it was a huge success. I was a bit worried at first that he would try to crawl out of the wagon but as you can see our son just laid on back and enjoyed the ride!! Also this was the first time for him to swing on his own, and well he was not real sure about it. We may have to work up to enjoying this. He was also very unsure about the grass, and spent most of the time trying to stuff it in his mouth. But hey its only the second time hes ever been in grass so who can blame him!

6 months

Eli
You're half a year old, oh my goodness. Thankfully you still seem small, and enjoy morning cuddles with us! You're still the happiest first thing in the morning, but smile the whole day through! Youre eating real foods...well real baby food now which is both fun and extremely messy! You absolutely love carrots and sweet potatoes, and hate anything green!! You still prefer your milk over anything that comes on a spoon. You're still not holding your bottles on your own, but I am still convinced that it is more out of laziness and wanting us to spend more time with you than your inability to actually hold it on your own. You also sat up on your own for the first time this month. You are still a bit wobley, but you will get the hang of it soon enough I am sure. You're are also now crawling, and well mobility has added a whole new adventure to this parenting thing. For you it is all fun and exciting, but for us it is all scary, and makes the day revolve around keeping you on the carpet, and away from anything but plush cushions!! In addition to all that you also found your foot this month, and actually love to stick it in your mouth. This is actually quite impressive!! I cant wait till you're 30 reading this and thinking there is no way you're anywhere near that flexible now! Oh baby E, every day with you is full of laughs! We love you very much. Happy 6 months.

7 Months

Baby E,

You're 7 Months old and its time to fly again. We're going home to visit Grandma and Grandpa. They cant spend Christmas with you so we're going to see them early!! You got to see your first snow fall on your 7th month birthday on our plane in Albq!! You loved staring out the windows of the plane the whole time, so I am quite sure that even though you didnt know what the snow was you liked looking at it!! This month you pulled up for the firs time and stood with help from us!! One morning we walked into your room and there you were standing in your crib. Now mind you this was pretty scary considering it was still on the top level and you very easily could have leaned out. Thank you Jesus that you did not!! I have to say that this was the first time you felt old to me. Now that you can stand, you seem quite independent, and well...Im not sure I like that!! But you're still up for wonderful morning cuddles!! This month you also finally reached for me. Before now you would only reach to your dad to be held, and expected me to do all the work. You gave in this month though and reached out to me...you love me!! This month was also your first Thanksgiving!! We spent it with some of Dads colleagues and of course your second favorite girl, Maggie Sue!! You spent most of the day just watching the other kids. You could spend hours watching other little people! In fact this is still what you do every time we are out and about in town. No matter where we are you're always watching the other kids, wishing so bad you could be playing with them. Dont worry little man...soon enough, soon enough. Happy 7 months, we love you!!

8 Months

Baby E,

You took 3 more plane rides this month, leaving you now in the double digits, and you're not even a year old yet. Too bad you cant earn mileage credits!! This month was another huge month of milestones. You waved for the first time to the nice man who sold us our new couch. You also stood on your own for the first time. Though it was just for a few seconds, we just had to count it. Now you did face plant after that, but luckily it was into a huge pile of pillows!! You also took your first step holding on, and have since turned into a wild man. You're absolutely everywhere! If we put you near the ottoman, or couch, or really anything you can reach you will pull yourself up and walk yourself the entire length of the item. You are also now very attached to me. I just told someone at Thanksgiving how you didnt care if mom was around or not...well all that changed this month. Now i cannot be out of your sight or you start crying. Thankfully you can see me from most anywhere in our house, but it is much harder to get things done carrying you around everywhere I go!!
We took our first family vacation this month to look at Christmas lights all over the state!! You stayed at your first hotel, and met Santa for the first time. You also went antique shopping for the first time...yipee!! Dad got us a huge 9 foot tree, and bought you your first plane ornament. Basically you have the bestest daddy in the whole world!! We took you to zoo lights, and winterhaven, and well pretty much spent all month Christmasing it up.
The most wonderful part about this month was that it was your first Christmas!! Your Mamaw, Papaw, Aunt C, and Mamaw Jean came out to share it with you. We took you to Christmas Eve service at church where you flirted like crazy with the ladies behind us, but were all in all quite well behaved. Daddy even got you your first candle for the candle light service. However, while holding you he could barely managed to keep his own candle out of your reach, so I held yours and mine. You spent the night in our room to ensure no peaking!! You woke up the next morning to a wagon that Santa brought you, filled with a huge santa bag full of toys...guess you were a good boy this year!! But wait wait...there was no opening presents until we read the Christmas story. So Papaw Sims read the Christmas story, and we all prayed, and then it was time to open presents. You lasted about 20 min. and then pooped out on us from all the excitement.
You also had your first new Years this month!! It was so much fun to start our new year with you!! And yes of course you were wide awake to watch the ball drop with us. You're prolly the only 8 month old around rockin it out into the new year. Lets just say you've yet to figure out when the sun sleeps you should too. In fact your new schedule seems to be sleeping from about midnight to 10am. But thats ok by me...I would much rather stay up late than get up early, so keep it up little man. All in all this month was a month of moving forward...literally...you're ALWAYS moving! Happy New Year baby E , we love you.

P.s. You got your first 2 baby teeth this month...the middle to bottom ones. So cute!!!