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…

There are a few things I wish I could bottle up and remember forever.  These are the things that a picture can’t capture or a video cannot do justice.  I’ve been working on a list of the things I want to cherish in my old age.  I wonder if Mary pondered the huge miracles or if the list in her heart was composed of small intimate occurrences in her daily life.

my list

the story of how God brought Jerod & i together… so unlikely

the tender touch of Elijah’s soft bare back

the summer after my senior year in high school when my brother, sister and i got the chance to be roommates for the last time

the fact that Elijah’s skin smells exactly like Jerod’s

the brush of Jerod’s young cheek on my own

the distinct sweet smell of my mom

the way Elijah will turn toward my voice-even when he was only a few hours old

the way my stomach would sink when i got caught doing something wrong by my dad

what my daily life has been like in every phase of my life… high school, college, um, brasil, ridgeview, housewife… the mundane but exhilarating existence as i plugged through

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Luke 2.19

Martin Luther King Jr. weekend marked a special event in our lives here in Austin (other than the celebration of MLK, Jr. and his accomplishments & the inauguration of Barrack Obama)…  Uncle Paul and Aunt Wendy came to visit Elijah!

They got in on January 16.  We ate Mexican food at Chuy’s.  On Saturday we walked around our fun neighborhood http://muelleraustin.com/explore/.  We then headed over to Cabela’s.  On Sunday we went to church at the Stone http://austinstone.org/.  It was great.  The sermon was about God’s purpose for marriage.  We watched a movie called “Kung Fu Panda”- so cute.  We ate lunch at Whole Foods.  It was delicious!  On Monday, Uncle Paul made us delightful omelets!  We headed over to the Capital.  Elijah was feeling sad at the capital.  We think he might be one of those Texans who think Texas should become its own country again.

We drove around town to sight see and then ended up at the Oasis for dinner and the sunset.

Tuesday we hung around the house until it was time for Aunt Wendy and Uncle Paul to head back to Tennessee.

Elijah really loved hanging out with Aunt Wendy and Uncle Paul.  Uncle Paul and Elijah had some physical therapy sessions and Aunt Wendy sounds an awful lot like Elijah’s mom.  We can’t wait to see them again!

who can’t stop talking about our kid.  It’s annoying, we know.  We just can’t help it.  He is so great.

Here are some photos of us having a good time with Elijah:

He’s wonderful and we are so thankful to God for giving us a family.

even though he doesn’t know it yet.  It is kinda funny.  Jerod and I will see Elijah smile and we will get really excited.  Elijah then gets a serious concerned look on his face because of our reaction.  He hasn’t quite correlated the fact that we are getting excited over him.  This of course only makes him that much cuter.  So modest.

The first smiles started on Saturday December 27.  They are getting better every day.  We anticipate the day he laughs.