Elijah @ 5 months!

Can you believe it has almost been half a year since Elijah was born?

Some cool things that have been going on:

Elijah is rolling over!

He is also balding- he has less hair today than the day we brought him home from the hospital.

Eli has been saying words only he understands.  Its cute though.

He is actually starting to enjoy tummy time.  This hasn’t always been a fun time for him.

Elijah is sitting up mostly on his own (we put pillows down to break his fall).

He’s so advanced

Jerod (3.16)  and I (4.2) celebrated our birthdays.  We had some good times with family.  We also got a few nice cards and presents in the mail!  Here are some pictures of our birthday dinners:

Jerod, Elijah, April & Tio B on Jerod's Birthday

Daddy & Elijah on March 16

April & Eli at Papasitos

good night on April's birthday celebration

at the house on April's birthday

Its funny how once you have a kid, your birthday

doesn’t seem like a big deal anymore. 

The bluebonnets are blooming!

we're still working on our balance

At Zilker Botanical Gardens

March 4-8, Granny J, Aunt Wendy & Grandma BJ came to visit us in Austin!  We had a wonderful time hanging out.

Happy Birthday, Grandma BJ!

On March 5 we celebrated Grandma BJ’s 86th birthday!

Elijah and the daffodils at Zilker Botanical Gardens

We went to Zilker Botanical Gardens (which is free on the weekdays).  It was a sunny beautiful day.

Granny J & Elijah in the Tea Embassy

On the way home we stopped at the Tea Embassy because Granny J loves tea.

Aunt Wendy & Elijah on the Tea Embassy's porch

On Friday we took a walk around our neighborhood and took some pictures with the bluebonnets.  Elijah was a little grumpy.

Elijah in the Bluebonnets

That night we made a fillet Mignon dinner for Grandma BJ’s birthday.  It was yummy.  We played a hand of “three card” that night.

our little card shark

On Saturday we went to Whole Foods for lunch.  After we ate some great food, we went shopping at Archiver’s (a scrap-booking store) & Carter’s for Elijah.  Elijah got his first pair of sunglasses.  Saturday evening we went to a picnic for the Audio/Visual/Lighting/Camera team from the Austin Stone Community Church.  Elijah got to try them out at the picnic.

Elijah & me at the picnic

Sunday it was time for everyone to go home.  We had a wonderful time and can’t wait to see everybody again!

Jesus is in there too, but i don’t have a pic of Him yet

12 weeks and counting!

Elijah's Birthday, November 26

Elijah at 1 week with Granny J & Grandpa Paul

Elijah at 2 weeks old!

3 weeks...

4 weeks and counting

with Grandad at 5 weeks

6 weeks old with Tio B

drying off with NeNe at 7 weeks

8 weeks old with Uncle Paul & Aunt Wendy

with Abuelo at 9 weeks!

Elijah at 10 weeks!

with Gran & Uncle Butch at 11 weeks

hanging out with daddy at 12 weeks!

we’re growing so fast…

Where are we going?

We went to visit Jerod’s family the last week of January.  Many of his cousins, aunts & uncles, and the great grandparents hadn’t had the privilege of meeting Elijah yet.  Elijah did wonderfully on the drive up to Dallas, then on to Snyder, and eventually to Denver City.

We are going to west Texas!

The first stop:  Dallas.  We got there right in time for an ice freeze.  We stayed with Jerod’s three cousins Alex, Amory, & Abby.  It was a great time because Alex and Abby’s classes were cancelled due to weather.  Even Amory got to come home early from work one night!

Cousin Amory

Cousin Abby

Cousin Alex

I think they enjoyed Elijah.  He loved hanging out with his three cuddies!  From Dallas we went to Snyder, Texas.  On the way there, we got the chance to visit with Debbie, Jerod’s aunt.  It was pretty obvious that she was a big fan of Elijah’s.  He thought she was pretty great too.

Aunt Debbie

We arrived in Snyder to hang out with Abuelo and Carl, Jerod’s uncle.  Carl lives in a log cabin.  It is a cool place and we enjoyed hanging out with Carl and Ellis (Abuelo/Jerod’s dad).

Uncle Carl

Abuelo

The next day we headed out further west to Denver City, Jerod’s hometown.  We stayed at Yvonne’s house- which is Jerod’s aunt.  Apparently she doesn’t want anymore nieces or nephews because she put us in two twin beds.  :)  Seriously though she loved Eli too.

Aunt Yvonne

Elijah also met his big cousin, Christian.  Christian was so loving toward Eli.  He offered to let Elijah keep his very own baby blanket.  Jerod & I really enjoyed Christian.  He is getting so big and always had funny things to say.  He is a great kid.

Cousin Christian

Elijah got to meet his great Grandma and Grandpa.  Elijah loved them!

Great Grandpa

Great Grandma

Grandma & Grandpa

He also met his uncle Greg.   Greg is married to Yvonne.  We had some great conversations about raising a family.  Yvonne and Greg have raised three wonderful children, Abby, Alex, and Amory.  Jerod and I took good notes!

Uncle Greg

Jerod’s Dad Ellis came to DC too and we celebrated his birthday.  We stayed three days in Denver City.  We ate plenty of good homemade Mexican food.  I got the recipes from the matriarchs- we’ll see if I can even come close to their cooking.  I’m trying, Jerod!

Happy Birthday Abuelo!

We were very fortunate to see some of Jerod’s buddies from high school & college.  We saw Dave & Meghan and their beautiful son, Brady.   Brady and Eli became friends pretty quickly.  We enjoyed catching up and reminiscing about fun college stories.

Brady & Elijah

We also got the chance to see Blake and Brooke.  They have two handsome boys named Hudson and Haddon.  We only got to see them briefly, but we enjoyed spending a little time with them.  Blake just released his second CD.  It is really good.  If you have a moment, check it out at www.blakehicksmusic.com/.  We listen to it often in the car.

Brady doesn't know about personal space yet

We got the opportunity to see Tyler and Haley.  Tyler is Jerod’s best friend.  He and his wife Haley are expecting their first baby in May.  Its a little boy, so Elijah will have a fun buddy to hang out with pretty soon!

Tyler, Haley, Elijah, & their baby in the belly, Griffin

One week after starting our first road trip with Elijah, we headed back to Austin.We spent the night in Snyder on the way back to break up the trip.  Overall I think Eli had a wonderful time meeting all the family.  Jerod & I loved it too.

mom & Elijah

We're going home!

On February 10, Elijah went to the park in our neighborhood for the first time!

It was pretty great.  He seemed to really like the swings.

Its nice that we can walk to the park and play.

He's a sinner

needless to say, we’re gonna need prayer.

our middle finger man

Jerod has a theory.  I was driving one day while I was pregnant.  It was pouring down rain here in Austin.  Texas is a pretty dry state and people here aren’t used to driving in the rain.  I was on a highway called Mopac and there was an accident in the fast lane about a mile up ahead.  It was easy to see and the sensible drivers who have a healthy respect for wet roadways started to evacuate the lane about a mile out.

He's trying to flip somebody off...

I was in the middle lane, so I let one guy cut in front of me.  Then some joker decided to speed up and cut me off.  Well, I don’t know if it was the prego hormones or the over protective momma bear developing in me as Elijah was getting ready to hatch, but I was a bit aggressive.  I tried to keep the guy out of my lane, but it didn’t work.  My next strategy was to teach him a lesson.  So I leaned on my horn and shot him a bird after I thought he might be looking at me in his rear view.  I know, it wasn’t my most holy moment.  I did feel badly about it so I told Jerod.

even in front of grandma!

Up until we realized that we have a problem with Elijah shooting the bird at everyone, I had forgotten about that incident.  Now Jerod’s theory is that I taught my son the gesture in utero.  Lesson:  oh be careful little hands what you do….

You can see the silhouette of his finger

And these are just the times we’ve captured the moment on film!

He does it again

We apologize in advance if our kid shoots a bird at you.

he needs Jesus

Our wonderful cousin Allison came to see Elijah this last weekend.  We had a good time.

On Thursday we headed down to South Congress to walk around.  The first Thursday of every month tons of crafty artists set up on SoCo to sell their goods.  It was fun to walk around and check out the crafts and the funky stores.

We also ate cupcakes from “Hey Cupcake!”  I got the “snowcap” variety and Jerod got the “Michael Jackson”- which is a chocolate bottom with a vanilla icing top. 

The next day we went to Zilker Park’s Botanical Garden.  They have a really cool Japanese garden.  Oh, and admission is free on the weekdays!

That night we had a family dinner.  NeNe (Jerod’s mom) and Michael came over.  Alla made an amazing dessert that reminds me of a Cuban pastry I usually get in Miami (pastelito con queso).  It was a flaky warm cream cheese filled delicious goodness.

Allison had to go home on Sunday.  Elijah had a wonderful time with his cuddie!

Jerod, Eli, and I traveled to Dallas, Snyder, and Denver City (TX) to visit his family.  I plan to post another blog about that trip in the next few days.  Come back and check soon…