Hello Everyone!
Only one more month and our little boy will have his first birthday. I can’t believe it! Time seems to have flown by this year. He is definitely in a fun stage. He’s beginning to learn so many things so quickly. He recently learned how to roar like a lion, give kisses, clap, wave and blow on his food when it’s too hot! My favorite, though, has been watching him learn how to stand on his own!! It’s been so cute. I bought him this big ball that he loves to play with. For our game, he stands up using the ball to balance at first and then lets go and stands on his own. He always does it with the biggest smile and cutest “Ahhh” noises and then he falls back forward onto the ball and I give him lots of kisses and clap for him. It’s so much fun. Very entertaining :). He is now eating everything that we eat, which has been nice. I made all of my own baby food, so it was a lot of work, but definitely worth it (and a world of difference from the store bought version!) He isn’t a picky eater, thus far, so I’m hoping that continues. I actually took a picture of him eating brussels sprouts. I couldn’t believe he liked them (I put the recipe on my recipe blog www.mandasrecipecollection.blogspot.com). We have begun the weaning process, so I’m hoping in a few more weeks that he will be completely weaned. I’m taking it slow, one day at a time, trying to be patient and flexible (not always easy for me). We are definitely blessed to have such an amazing little person to share our lives with. He is so precious to us and such a joy. Life was never as exciting without him.
I’ve posted his recent pictures. They aren’t extremely artistic this go around, because he is so active these days. It’s a lot harder catching good shots of him! But, I caught fun moments that I think you’ll enjoy.
Amanda has hit the big times… well, not really but she did make it in the paper for her cooking. Our good friend, Paige Lord, submitted Amanda as a home cook for a section in the newspaper that usually features chefs and cooks from Memphis. Manda is not an official chef, but she can throw down for sure. I get to enjoy all her experiments and tasty creations. I’m so proud of her, she is amazing.
Memphis is a great place to live if you enjoy experiencing all 4 seasons. Every winter, we usually have at least one decent snow fall (which means one hopeful snow day for schools!) Today was one of those fun days! Thankfully, most of the ice missed us and we caught about an inch of powdery white snow. It’s been so cold today that it hasn’t melted yet (it’s about 11:00 right now), so I’m enjoying the scenery outside of my windows. We took Eli outside this morning to experience touching snow for the first time. It was cute to watch him inspect the white stuff on his fingers.
Christmas ‘09- Eli 10 Months
I’m writing this in honor of our friend, Mac Hicks, who made it clear to me that we really needed to update our blog :). Actually, I completely agreed- I can’t believe how long it’s been! It seems like we’ve been running ever since we got home from our Christmas vacation. We had an awesome time visiting our families in Texas and Louisiana, as well as our friends, the Kerwins, in Lake Charles. Eli had a chance to play with his cousins, Emma (2.5) and Sofia (9.5 months). He and Sofia were adorable together. They are the cutest babies ever! All of the grandparents (abuelitos) were thrilled to spend time with him and I’m sure he felt the same way! Unfortunately, he was pretty sick for half of the trip. He had the highest temp he’s ever had-103.6 :(, and came down with a bad cold. But, we were still able to enjoy ourselves- although we were a little sleep deprived (for some reason, babies don’t like to sleep when they’re sick).
Church life has been amazing. We had our annual Celebration of Diversity service this past Monday night, on Martin Luther King Day. It was phenomenal. You could feel such a precious spirit of love and thankfulness in the room. We are SO blessed to be a part of a diverse, multi-cultural church. Considering that we live in Memphis, this is pretty huge. Our city, as I’m sure you know, is historically known for racism and hatred that ended the life of an amazing Civil Rights hero- Martin Luther King. Over the past three years, our church has held this service in his honor and as a celebration of the amazing group of people with whom we are privileged to do life- from so many different ethnicities, races and backgrounds. We love our church so much and count it an amazing blessing to serve there day in and day out.
Our little guy will be 11 months old this week! Only one more month until his birthday!! I keep telling people that I’m in denial that he’s actually turning 1. At church, our nursery is divided into rooms based on age: babies, 1, 2, 3 and 4. His birthday means that he will be moving up to a new classroom (assuming that he’s walking by then- they don’t move up the babies until they can walk for safety reasons). Seeing him move through those rooms will definitely make it clear to me that he’s growing up. I get a little sad when I think about the fact that he’s not going to be a baby anymore. He (we 
) will be entering into toddlerhood. Please pray for us- we have no idea what life is like with a toddler!!
Well, I’m off to teach piano lessons (a new hobby of mine since I became a stay at home mom!). Be blessed!
