Easter, No Pants, & a Fun Family Day

I'm a week late, but we really did have a great Easter! We had a really fun Easter egg hunt/Spring festival at our church on Saturday. It was really nice to be able to go as a family, and fellowship with our church family. I heard that over 85 kids showed up, and they all seemed to have a really good time! Eli tried out his first bounce house, and was NOT a fan. He clung to me for dear life, and we quickly made an exit. Maybe next time!



This boy sure does love being outside! He didn't seem to care that his new sandals were no longer brown, but now yellow from the pollen.



Our Easter weekend was packed full with fun activities, and we really enjoyed being able to celebrate with our family and friends. Aside from all of the Easter egg hunts, chocolate bunnies, and really good food, we were able to really reflect on the true meaning of Easter. We can't wait until Eli is old enough to understand what this special holiday is all about.
It's always good to see churches packed full of people on Easter morning, but it also gives me the burning desire to get those same people coming back each and every Sunday morning. Our Pastor delivered a powerful message, that hit home especially hard within Danny and I. We're so thankful that even in our darkest of days, we have our Lord and Savior to turn to for guidance.

One day last week, I came in to find Eli with his 'pants on the ground.' I guess he has a little too much growing room in those shorts! This boy constantly keeps us laughing.


This weekend we were able to catch up on some family time. On Saturday, we headed out to Chaplin park on the island. We did our first picnic lunch of the Spring, and let Eli and Bailey play their little hearts out. The weather was just perfect! We went out to dinner with several good friends Saturday night, and of course have watched just about every single second of the Master's coverage thus far!

Beach day!

This week, Eli added the beach to his list of favorite things to do! This makes for a very happy mommy. We'll be spending as much time as possible there this summer. There's nothing better than playdates at the beach!

Checking out the sights


He was just overcome with excitement everytime he ran for the water :)

Eli and his buddy Kres munching on some sand & sticks before lunch

He really enjoyed being able to run freely, and that he did. He ate way too much sand, threw up the sand, which then made room for more sand. He loved the water at first, but soon learned that it was entirely too cold for his liking. We surprisingly lasted almost 3 hours at the beach, which made for a very quiet and restful afternoon at home.

I have a feeling that the spring and summer will go by way too fast. With so many fun activities to do, the days seem to be over before you know it.

11 Months

Just wondering where the last month went?! With a visit from Auntie Liz, a big trip to VA for Mimi’s wedding, and all that fell in between, it’s been a whirlwind month! Eli has shown to be very flexible and adaptable, and seems to love a good vacation!

Sweet boy…
*You are now a full-time walker! And you have the bumps & bruises to prove it :)
*You have gotten back to sleeping really well again…thank goodness!
*You LOVE to eat, and we’ve yet to find anything that you won’t eat.(Sometimes a little too much at once!)

*You love to dance
*You clap your hands ALL day long
*Your favorite word is still ‘dada’
*You’re outgrowing all of your 9 month clothes
*You start swim lessons this week!
*You have a serious temper when things don’t go your way
*You played at your first mall play-place, and your heart was broken when it was time to leave
*You had your first taste of Chick-fil-A, and we weren’t surprised to find that you loved every last bite!

*You know what ‘no’ means, and you shake your head when we say it to you.
*If it weren’t for your playroom, we’d be in big trouble. Your main goal in life is to knock down every single standing DVD lined up on the t.v. stand.
*Your fake laugh is hilarious, and you’ve now learned to fake yawn. You must watch mommy yawn all day long!
*You moved into the toddler nursery at church, and love playing with the big kids.
*You developed a serious mommy attachment in the past week, which has made for some very long days. But your daddy sure knows how to make you forget about it

*You still love to blow raspberries

*Your tongue is still out ALL of the time


We love you so much, and celebrate each and every day with you. We're looking forward to your Monkey birthday party next month!

Easter Eggs

We didn't let the weather hold us back today! Yesterday it was warm & sunny, today it was cold & dreary. We bundled up and headed out to lowcountry's largest Easter egg hunt...and it certainly was indeed the largest I'd ever seen! 50,000 eggs were gone in a matter of minutes. Eli collected his 5 eggs, ate some dirt, made some friends, and we were on our way. He really enjoyed being able to run free on the football field, and was a little less than patient while waiting for our turn. This sweet little girl kept sharing her eggs with Eli

He carried this one yellow egg around with him for the rest of the afternoon.

We ended up having to miss Eli's first swim lesson this morning. After looking forward to it all week, it dawned on me late Friday that Eli can't get in a swimming pool until he tests negative for Salmonella. Even though it's been almost 7 months, I wouldn't dare take that chance. I certainly wouldn't wish that on anyone. So we'll be having that test run this week, and then hopefully we'll be in the pool next Saturday.


We still had to try on his new suit, and I think he looks pretty darn cute :)


It's no secret that Eli loves our dog Bailey. Here is their new favorite game. Whenever I go in and find Eli with a big red and wet forehead, then I know he's had his face smashed up against the gate. Lovely.

We're very excited that daddy is coming home tonight after a baseball trip to Columbia. We're looking forward to a family day tomorrow, and then date night for us tomorrow night!

Something to cherish

My mom is simply the best, and truly the most gracious person I know. She took one of my dad's diamond rings, and had a wedding band made for me with the 7 diamonds from it. It's beautiful, very sentimental, and something that I will always cherish. It wasn't ready in time for us to pick it up while we were home this weekend, but I received it in the mail today. We've all been dieing to see it, and I can't wait for my mom to see it in person.




Thank you mom! I absolutely love it.

A Wonderful Wedding Weekend!

Our trip to VA was an absolute blast! It was busy, fun, eventful and perfect! The weather couldn't have possibly been any better. We decided to leave Wednesday night instead of Thursday afternoon, and we're so glad that we did. Eli was a trooper on the ride, although he didn't sleep very much. We were very thankful that we had borrowed a portable DVD player from some friends. I think he watched at least 8 Baby Einstein videos on the way down, and maybe even more on the way home! We had such a great time with family and friends, and really took advantage of our time together.


Good thing daddy didn't see Eli trying on Mimi's wedding shoes :)


She was an absolutely stunning bride!


We're very excited about our new siblings


Mommy loves


We tried to get a good family beach picture, but it was a little too windy out back.

Eli is walking really well now, and everyone was amazed to see him getting around so well. Surprisingly, he only took one fall during the entire trip, and it just happened to be during the toasts at the reception! He face planted and hit mouth first, and busted his lip pretty good. Danny ran out of the room with him so fast that I didn't even realize that blood was streaming from his mouth. After about 5 minutes and having to shed his precious white vest, he was back to his happy self. He was quite the ham at the reception, and was happiest while on the dance floor! He danced, posed, and danced some more.


He clapped his little hands to the music all night long. It was too cute!



One of the many highlights of the reception was definitely Cindy and her dance moves! She's so carefree, and really knows how to have a good time! This is her showing off my favorite - the air guitar! She would occasionally go back to the table and prop her feet up on the chair beside hers. After a brief rest, she would be right back at it!

Today I am exhausted and having a hard time getting back to the normal swing of things. Eli is unusually fussy and making it known that he would much rather be back at his Mimi's house! We can't wait for mom and Tom to come for a quick visit next month before their move to Corpus Christi. Thankfully, they'll be here the week of Eli's birthday!

I have way too many pictures to sort through, and I'm way too scatter brained to finish blogging today! I have several posts coming up though, with many pictures to follow!

SPRING!

It's been a big day in our house today, filled with lots of walking and playing in the sun! Eli hadn't seen Brinley in about a week, and when we put her down in the playroom this morning, he walked a looong way by himself to get to her! It was precious, and I was stunned. He's been showcasing his newly fine tuned talent all day. And i'm proud to say that thus far, we've avoided getting any new bumps or bruises. He's really getting much better about catching himself.

This is the very first video I got of him walking. It's cute, minus him bonking Brinley on the head at the very end. Boys just don't get the meaning of gentle!


We spent a lot of time outside today, enjoying some much needed sunshine! I threw some hats on the kids, lathered them in sunscreen, and took them for a wagon ride.

I think he's as excited about Spring as I am!


Much to our dismay, he's not a huge fan of his new baseball hat. We're hoping it grows on him!

Eli discovered grass for the first time, and immediately wanted to eat some. Not surprised!

At first, he wasn't too sure about walking in the grass.

Too cute!

On the move!

Eli is really starting to figure things out around here! Just last night, I found him standing in the middle of his playroom all by himself. I stood there for a second and tried to figure out exactly how he got there, as there was nothing around for him to pull up on. And this is what I found... He sticks his little butt way up in the air, stands up, and then sticks his big belly out for balance :)

Turn your head sideways and enjoy this short video!

10 Months

What a fun age! I'm trying to be consistant about keeping up with Eli's monthly accomplishments, habits(good & bad!), loves and growths. I'm terrible about updating his baby book each month, so it's nice to have this as a reference later on.

Here's what our sweet boy has been up to:
- He's on the move!! He's very busy, just as we always expected he would be. He's crawling, pulling up to a stand, and taking up to 5 steps at a time.
- He claps his hands when he's happy, and claps them out of frustration when he's mad
- His eating habits continue to surprise me daily. He will eat anything and everything that he can feed himself. He eats a few jars of baby food each day, but he is close to being on strictly table food.
- His favorite fruits are blueberries and bananas, and will eat any kind of steamed veggie.
- He's been completely off of Soy formula for over a month, and I couldn't be happier about it! All of my concerns about a milk allergy or intollerance have been put to rest. He now enjoys things like yogurt and cheese without a problem!
- He sleeps 11-12 hours each night, and only occasionaly wakes during the night.
- He naps for over an hour each morning, and about 2-3 hours in the afternoon.
- He doesn't know a stranger, and continues to amaze us with his personality.
- He currently has 6 teeth, and we're working on a few more. The drooling never stops!
- He has the sweetest little voice one minute, and then a loud yelling voice the next (we're working on the latter). Even his loud happy noises are enough to make your ear drums rattle. Yikes!
- He's destined to be an engineer (so his mimi says!). He is very interested in details, and how things work. He studies his toys and is fascinated by even the littlest of things.

He's doing so many new things, and changing so much daily, that its hard to keep up with! I don't want to miss a single thing, and am just cherishing every moment.

Thank you Lord for giving us this child. I pray that we will raise him well, love him with every ounce of our soul, and be godly role models for him. May we never take this precious gift for granted.

A sick visit

All I have to say is..mommy's don't have time to be sick! I came down with some nasty bug, and as always, I seem to get sick at the worst possible times. Luckily it was only a 24 hour bug, but there was a lot going on during those 24 hours. I had both babies to take care of on Thursday, and we also had family coming in town for just that night. Just my luck! Good thing they were really only coming to see Eli anyways :) My grandparents, Aunt & Uncle stopped by for the night to break up their trip to Florida. They're all going on a cruise that leaves on Saturday.
Eli was such a show off for everyone! They all couldn't believe how much he'd changed just since Christmas.


He and his great-grandaddy Earl have such a special bond...it's the sweetest thing ever. It brings me such joy to see them together.


Hi everyone! See what I can do!

Even though I wasn't feeling my absolute best, it's always so refreshing to see family. We're counting down the days until our trip home for my mom's wedding next month. It will be a short and very busy trip, but we've learned to make the most of those!

Cousins & a New Playroom

This past weekend we had the opportunity to take a quick trip to Columbia. We've been wanting to spend some time with Katie, Charles and the boys at their new house(ok maybe its not that new anymore), so we decided that we better take advantage of a free weekend before baseball season officially starts. We may only live a few hours away from each other, but its still hard to see each other as often as we'd like. We're very anxiously awaiting Baby Smoak #3 to be born in August, and we're dieing to know if Eli will be getting a new boy or girl cousin!

It was fun to see Eli interacting with the boys, and trying to keep up. He was so interested in everything that they were doing, and likewise were Chase and Jacob. They enjoyed playing with Eli's toys, and as always, Chase was the first to offer his help in anything that involved caring for the baby. He is going to be so fun to watch with his new brother or sister!

We took the kids to the park on Saturday, and got to enjoy some much needed sunshine! Katie took some really good pictures of Eli while we were there.




After a few rough weeks of unsucessful baby-proofing in our living room, we finally turned our sunroom/breakfast nook into a full playroom for Eli. We still have several things to get, but it's already been a LIFE SAVER! He's just all over the place, and it was impossible to get anything done around the house with our previous set up. We knew that we would run into problems once he started crawling. Ive never wanted carpet so bad in my life!




He now has very comfy carpet to crawl on, and hopefully his poor little knees will start healing up. We still have to order a gate for the doorway, find some toy boxes, and I think we'll also do some sort of fun bean bag chair. We'll definitely miss eating every meal out there, but I'll take my sanity instead! We have a perfectly good dining room that we'll finally get to use.

Now we just play,play,play all day!