Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we spent 4 days at my parents house and it was lots of fun! I think I might be the only person in the world who doesn't get excited about Thanksgiving dinner, but Daniel more than makes up for my lack of enthusiasm!

This year the whole family was together, including Grandma who just recently retired and moved down to Georgia in the beginning of October. Dad and Sean spent Thanksgiving morning running a half marathon while the rest of us (including Eli!) slept in! Later on we all watched the Thanksgiving parade while the food was prepared!

Before we ate, Dad read off a list of all the things that he and our family had to be thankful for this year. We are so richly blessed and I am glad that we spent our time reflecting on all that we have been blessed with! Here is a list of JUST A FEW of my Thanksgivings:

1- My amazing husband. I believe that God brought Daniel and I together for a reason. When I look back on our relationship and see how far we have come in just 4 years I am in awe! God was definitely at work! I am so thankful that Daniel is my husband and that I get to share this life with him! He is my best friend, a wonderful listener, extremely patient, kind, genuine, funny, and best of all he loves me for me! He is also a GREAT father!
2- My sweet boy. I am so thankful for Eli! He is such a blessing in my life and words can not express my love for him. I am exceedingly thankful that he was born HEALTHY and without complications! He brings such joy to me everyday and I can not imagine my world without him! God is SO good!
3- My wonderful family. I could not have been blessed with a more amazing family than the one that I have! When we are all together I am constantly reminded of my love for each and every one of my family members! We all fit together so well and when we are all together the love can be seen and felt all around us! Not too mention they are hilarious and we keep each other laughing constantly!
4- Daniel's job. God blessed us with Daniel's job. There is no doubt about that. With the country's economy and job market in a downward spiral it was nothing short of a miracle that Daniel got a job just six weeks after graduating college, 2 and 1/2 months before the baby was born, with insurance coverage that would help pay for Eli's birth and keep us from getting into some serious debt! Our prayers were answered! We have a steady income, a roof over our heads, and food on the table (oh yeah, and diapers!)! Praise the Lord!
5- My Savior. I am so thankful for the sacrifice that was made so that my sins could be forgiven and so that I could look forward to my home in heaven when this life is over. Now that I have Eli there is no way that I could ever imagine giving up my son to die for people that I don't even know... but I am SO THANKFUL that I have a Savior who did just that!

Thank you Lord for blessing me and my family!

On Friday Eli went to his FIRST MOVIE! We saw Harry Potter in theaters and Eli was so good! He slept most of the time and woke up once for a snack!

The rest of the weekend was spent talking, laughing, playing with Eli, and just visiting with each other. We talked about how much fun it would be next Thanksgiving and pictured little Eli running around the house! I can't even imagine! :)

First Shots and First Time Seeing Santa

Yesterday was a big day for Eli! I took him in for his 2 month shots. He actually only ended up getting one shot (dTAP) and an oral vaccine (Rotavirus). We are following the Dr. Sears Vaccination schedule, which spaces the shots out a little bit more. The nurse looked a me like I had three heads when I told her we wouldn't be following THEIR schedule... oh well!
While we were getting ready to leave I felt so guilty! I was getting him all dressed and ready to go fully knowing that he would be crying and in pain in only a couple hours. Silly I know, but still, what mom likes to hear their baby cry!? When all was said and done Eli did GREAT! He cried for only a few seconds and then was back to his normal happy self!

Later that night Daniel surprised us with a fun evening in Birmingham! We went to "The Summit", a touristy shopping center near our home, where there was a small Christmas Parade! Eli was able to see Mr. and Mrs. Claus for the first time! He loved all of the commotion -- he sat snugly in either mine or Daniel's arms just looking around, cooing, and smiling! Afterward the whole shopping center lit up with Chrismas lights and there was a firework show! We had a blast!

Flying With Daddy

Eli absolutely LOVES this!

Night Time Routine and Lullabies

We decided to start a bedtime routine with Eli, since he is a whole 2 months old (gasp!). We implemented it the past two nights. It goes like this:

Eat
Snuggle on Mommy and Daddy's bed
Daddy reads a bible story
Mommy reads a book
Daddy reads a book
Sing songs
Kisses and Hugs
Pray
Put Eli into the pack-n-play
Replace pacifier when he cries, until he falls asleep

He has successfully transitioned from the rock-n-play (a comfy chair-like sleeping cradle that sits on a slight incline) which was in our room, to the pack-n-play which is also in our room. I am SO thrilled that this was a success. I was worried he wouldn't adjust well due to being flat on his back, but he slept really well both nights! The next step will be his crib which is in his nursery.

The only problem with this routine is that I DONT KNOW ANY LULLABIES!!!

So the past two nights I have been singing him Christmas Carols. I better start learning some lullabies otherwise I will be singing Christmas Carols all year round!

Halloween and Homecoming

We have been so busy these past couple of weeks. The past three weekends we have been in THREE different states! First we were at my parents house for a visit, then we were at Daniel's parents house for Eli's first Halloween, and finally we were in Searcy for Homecoming weekend. Things have finally settled down, so here I am to update!

We had so much fun during Halloween weekend! Eli was able to meet some of his family members for the very first time -- I think over 25 people were at Daniel's parents house on Saturday! It was so crazy! On Saturday night we dressed Eli up in his Halloween costume and went trick-or-treating with Reese, Owen, and Josie! Eli was a Ninja Turtle (of course). Reese was a Super Spy, Owen was Mario, and Josie was a fairy.

Before leaving for homecoming on the following weekend, something very exciting happened!!! ELI ROLLED OVER on November 1st! We caught it on video too! Its funny because you can hear Daniel and I in the background cheering him on!

This past weekend was exciting for all of us! We were back at Harding and my whole family was together again! We were able to spend some good quality time together at our Alma Mater! Here is a picture of Eli on the road -- he's such a good little traveler:

This weekend we will be spending all of our time in good ole Birmingham! We are all traveled out for now!

I'll leave you with these pictures of Eli! (sorry for the bad quality, all we have is our iPhones to take pics!)