Eli’s Birthday Breakfast

             Whitney and Harrison, Jen and Eli, Laci and Caroline, Courtney and Anders

Eli and I feel so blessed to be able to call these Mamas and their babies our friends. 

I honestly have no idea how I would have survived this first year of motherhood if it wasn’t for these 3 women.  Right after Eli was born Courtney and I started walking together every morning.  Since Anders was older Courtney had been through things I was just going through and her support meant the world to me then and still does today.  Anders and Eli are little buddies.  Anders calls Eli “Nee-Ni” so now Eli says the word “Nee-Ni” all the time.  So sweet!  Laci came strollin’ into the picture right after she moved into the neighborhood.  Of course Courtney and I were more than glad to have another friend to walk with us in the morning.  These boys needed a girl to mix things up a bit.  You can count on Courtney to turn your cloudy day sunny at any given moment and you can count on Laci to make you laugh when you really don’t want to.  Laci’s sarcasm is great and because of that her and I get along wonderfully.  And then there is Whitney.  We met at the library during storytime as you may recall from previous blog posts.  The funny thing is neither of us introduced ourselves at first.  My name was Eli’s mom and her name was Harrison’s mom.  After that first day I had hoped we’d meet up again because our boys played so nicely together.  I went home that night and told Milan I met someone who I thought I could be friends with.  Do you ever meet someone and just know right away that you two could get along?  I feel like Whitney and I have known each other forever.  Anyway, we ended up at storytime together the next week.  We became fast friends and so did the boys.  I love these three Mamas and their babies.  They are dear dear friends and I hope they all know how much I appreciate them.  Eli and I would be very sad and lonely if they weren’t in our lives.  Their friendships make living in Georgia not so bad after all.  :) Thanks you girls for staying home with your babies and spending so much time with us on a daily and weekly basis!

Breakfast casserole and muffins with icing, yummy!  You would have thought we haven’t fed these kids in days.  They devoured their food!

 

            “Ohhhh Eli. Come here, I have a present for you…  Here is your first smooch!”

 

                                       Playing with all of Eli’s toys is so much fun!

                                    

                                                                     Time for presents!

 

Trying to get 4 babies to sit still together for a picture is nearly impossible!  How cute is this attempt!?  Eli’s laugh in the second picture says it all!  We call him our silly Monkey.  Hence, the monkey pajamas he is wearing.  :)

This really was a great time.  I absolutely loved celebrating Eli’s birthday.  From decorating the house, to baking his cake, and having all his friends here to play I couldn’t be a happier Mama.  And I’m pretty certain he is one happy little guy. 

Eli’s Big Day

Milan and I wanted to make Eli’s 1st birthday an extra special one so we filled our day with lots of memories. 

First things first…  The new BIG BOY car seat in the forward facing position.  I couldn’t wait to turn the car seat around.  I knew Eli would be so much less fussy this way and I was right!

                                  “Woo hoo!  This is so much fun ya’ll!” 

Next stop… off to see Santa!  Bass Pro Shop has an awesome Santa’s Wonderland.  Eli loved it and so did we!  I used to think having a birthday so close to Christmas would take away from the birthday fun but it didn’t at all.

“Nice try Tata but I am not sitting on this guy’s lap!”  “Ok, that’s much better.”

Off to lunch….  After visiting Santa we headed to lunch at a Greek restaurant that we love.  Eli loves hummus so I knew he’d be happy having a big boy lunch with us.  Sure enough he did his usual which is eat whatever you put in front of him! 

The waiter found out it was Eli’s birthday and brought us some ice cream and baklava. Of course Eli loved it (as did we!). Yum yum!

Toys R Us here we come… Milan and I thought it would be fun to take Eli to Toys R Us today to pick out one of his own birthday gifts!

“Oooh I like the sounds this thing makes!”      “Yep, I think this what I want.” 

Next stop… home for cake and presents!

 

Cake, mmmm yummy! 

Wow what a day!  Off for a bath and bedtime!  Especially since tomorrow is Eli’s breakfast pajama birthday party with his friends! 

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Eli

I have to start by sharing the classic 1st birthday cake picture.  Needless to say Eli had no interest in the cake.  It was all about the cream cheese frosting that basically melted the minute his warm little hands touched it. 

I can hardly believe that a year has passed. I often feel this way when the holidays roll around but this year I have so much to look back on in 2009.  As challenging as things were at times I can say with 100% certainty that this has been the best year of my entire life.  Look at that sweet little boy.  How couldn’t this have been the greatest thing to ever happen to me? 

As this monumental day approached I would have bet a million dollars I’d be crying on and off all day.  Heck tears spring up in my eyes on normal days when I allow myself to think about Eli’s birth day and the first few days following it.  I really surprised myself today when I felt nothing but sheer joy.  Joy in the fact that I survived one year of motherhood and better yet Eli survived one whole year of having me as his Mama!!  I do have to admit there were a couple times today that I did get teary eyed.  1.  When Alicia my doula called and left me a sweet message remembering being at Eli’s birth with me. 2. When it was 4:06pm and Milan and I discussed what was happening one year ago exactly.  3.  When we sang Happy Birthday to Eli.  I just couldn’t believe I was singing Happy Birthday to that teeny tiny little bundle of joy who is now 1 years old. 

Of all the things I have learned this year there is one thing in particular that really took me by surprise.  I had no idea how much Eli was going to teach me about myself.  I knew the role I was going to play in his life but I never would have dreamed all the things he was going to teach me.  I never in a million years would have guessed I could be courageous enough to endure birth med free.  I never would have imagined I could survive on chunks of sleep (I used to love my 10 hour nights of sleep and afternoon naps!).  I never realized that you have a parenting style instinctually in you that comes out and develops as the result of the type of baby you have.  You can read all the books you want but ultimately the baby is unique and you better adjust!  I had no idea how important it is to trust your instincts and trust your body.  Eli’s reflux and the nursing issues that came along with it taught me that I need to trust myself and what I was feeling.  I learned that I would go to all ends of the earth to protect this little boy.  I always heard about women and their “mama bear instincts” but I had no idea how true that was until I became a Mama.  I feel sorry for anyone who tries to come into this house while Milan is out of town.  I have imagined the things I would do to someone if they tried to hurt my baby!  :) This list could go on and on.  I really can’t imagine all the things I have yet to learn as each year of Eli’s life passes and he grows up. 

Being a Mother to Eli and a wife to Milan is the best thing that I could have ever imagined for my life.  I thank God everyday for my blessed life and our healthy happy little family. 

12 Months!

 

               1 month                                  2 months                                  3 months

              4 months                                   5 months                               6 months

                                                 

              7 months                                                                                       9 months

              10 months                               11 months                     Birthday boy!  12 months!

This was by far the most difficult month of all to get Eli to pose in his chair.  I tried in the morning like I usually do and he would have nothing to do with it!!  So here is our little birthday boy all cleaned up after his bath (he was covered in cake and frosting!).  I wasn’t thrilled with the placement of his hands but hey what can a Mom do?  Boys will boys! :)

Month 11: The personality is out!

This is Eli’s impression of Popeye.  He makes this silly face all the time and it cracks me up!  I think he’s working on winking.  Too cute!

Eli’s buddy Harrison is always sticking his tongue out.  Up until this past month Eli has never tried to stick his tongue out.  I’m pretty certain we can thank Harrison for teaching Eli how to do this.  It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

Eli’s sleep habits have greatly improved since he started walking and going to Gymboree.  He is exhausted at the end of the day.  He is only napping once a day now so I think that has a lot to do with the exhaustion as well. 

Ever since winter appeared we have been trying to find indoor activities to keep us busy during the day.  Anders and Eli especially like going to the bookstore to play at the train table. 

 

Milan and Eli have a bath routine that keeps Eli giggling from beginning to end.  I can hear them playing over the sound of me doing the dishes.  I’m pretty sure baby giggles are the one of sweetest sounds in the world.  Don’t you wish something as simple as a bath would make you giggle a real deep down genuine belly laugh? 

Tata and Eli having fun at the park.  It is so strange having to remember to put shoes on Eli when we go out now.  Wait let me rephrase that.  It is strange having to bring shoes with when we go out.  When he first starting walking and wearing shoes I made a big production out of putting on shoes before leaving the house.  I have since learned my lesson because all he does is remove them upon entering the car.  Now I pack the shoes in my bag and I have them if needed. 

Eli loves loves loves books.  He will sit and look at them by himself now.  He also chews them and drags them around the house until they are falling apart but I still consider that part of loving books.  I do have to say that the greatest joy since he started walking has been his new trick of bringing you a book to read.  Eli will pick up a book (9 times out of 10 it’s the book Go Dog. Go!), walk over to you, turn himself around, and plop down onto your lap.  He actually pays attention to the book and even cuddles while you read it.  I have been waiting for this day to come.  Reading children’s books is by far one of my favorite things to do. 

Eli reading his book on our new carpet that we absolutely love!

Jack got a haircut again because Eli thinks pulling Jack’s fur and smacking him with any object he can find is really funny!  Eli laughs hysterically at this dog.  They are best buds for sure.  I don’t know of any dog that will let you torment it like this dog lets Eli. 

Bye Bye Baby!  Here comes big boy Eli all ready to be 1.