This is a picture Mundo sent from Amsterdam. It’s the name of a clothing store in his favorite place in Amsterdam- the Dam Square
First, I have to fill you in on Eli’s amazing night of sleep. For our first night without Mundo, I must say things went quite well-actually, records were set! Eli slept…are you ready for this?…11.5 hours straight! That’s the longest he’s ever slept without waking up during the night. As many new moms will tell you, on those first few nights when your baby decides to sleep through the night you’re up all night long waiting for them to wake up (and checking on them to make sure they’re breathing!). So, needless to say, I woke up at 3:30, waiting to hear sweet little cries and it was quiet. So, I laid there, expecting him to wake up the minute I fell asleep. I dozed for about an hour and then woke up again at about 5:00. I’m still breastfeeding, so, I was quite uncomfortable and quite ready to feed my little boy. However, I kept thinking, “How interesting that I’ve been waiting anxiously for this to happen and when it does, a little discomfort is causing me to want to back track and have him wake up again!” I realized that this can often be an analogy for seasons in life when we’re believing God to do a miracle in our lives, but we’re not willing to make the sacrifices/pay the price to see the miracle come to pass. The reality is, my body will adjust to him sleeping through the night and I won’t be as uncomfortable with time. However, in this initial season, I will have to be willing to endure a little discomfort. Man, I will be glad when the season of rest comes and I get to sleep through the night for the first time in nine months! (okay, so I understood that babies might take a while to sleep through the night, but I didn’t realize that I wouldn’t be sleeping through the night either 
) Eli is most definitely worth the sacrifice of sleep!
On another note…I am in love with technology these days. Mundo and I were able to video chat this morning on Skype. It was so much fun to see Eli jumping around and smiling at his daddy. He loved every minute of it! Mundo was even able to show me the view outside of his hotel room. I felt like I was there with him! They are doing great and are hopefully still sleeping right now. They are 7 hours ahead of us. They will spend their Tuesday hanging out in Amsterdam, touring the city before they head to Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday. I miss him, but I’m so thankful for the opportunity he has to go such an awesome trip with two amazing men of God. Eli and I were invited to a friend’s house for dinner and really enjoyed spending time with their family- (thanks Pete and Kristi for a great dinner!) It’s always a blessing to have great friends around you who are your extended family.
Okay…so you may be wondering what Eli ate…Eli was playing on the floor in our kitchen this afternoon while I was cleaning up. I decided I wanted to take a walk, so I left him there to play while I ran and got the stroller out of the car and set up. Let me back up just a minute…at the grocery store today I bought him those fun little Gerber baby star cereal thingys that are great as a baby’s first finger food. I gave him some at lunch and SO enjoyed watching him pick them up off his tray and eat them (I had no idea he had mastered this skill already!) So, I had basically spent his lunch time teaching him how to pick up little things and put them in his mouth…back to the story… As I walked in the garage, I immediately had a thought pop into my mind, “The dog food!” Our rat terrier, Dulce, still hadn’t finished her food, so I knew her bowl was full. I ran into the kitchen as fast as I could and, sure enough, Eli had crawled over to her bowl and had a handful of dog food! I whisked him up and took the food out of his hands. After washing both of our hands, I fished around in his mouth, but didn’t feel anything. I held him in front of me and started sniffing his mouth. He smiled at me with the biggest, cutest, almost toothiest grin ever. I kept sniffing and he kept smiling. Then, all of a sudden, a piece of dog food came drooling out of his big smile!!! I freaked, of course, and ran to the sink to wash out his mouth. The moral of the story: crawling babies and dog food don’t mix!
