Family Vacation

Life with Elijah just keeps getting more and more fun and adventurous. Elijah has always loved water and so naturally loves swimming. Here are some pics taken at a pool where we went with Nanna and Grandpa before heading out for vacation.

We also celebrated Uncle Amos's birthday! He liked his new power tools. Eli had the most fun playing with a plastic cup and eating part of mommy's root beer float.

We recently returned home from a two week trip North during which we enjoyed spending time with family and friends. Eli came home with many memories, new toys, clothes, and a Packer helmet. Go Pack Go!

We stayed a few days at Jeff's parent's house before heading to the U.P. While there, Elijah met some of his U.P. family for the first time. They introduced him to some of the finer things in life... coca-cola, oreos, and strawberries. He and Auntie Lauri also bonded over Dale Earnhardt Junior. Notice the matching shirts.

Elijah was also given the grand tour of the Ensign Township Fire Department by Uncle Tom. He loved his first chance at being in a fire truck.

He also got to see Lake Michigan and eat grass for the first time (too many poinsonous spiders to do this in Arkansas).

He also met many of Leigh Ann's friends from church, hung out with Pete and Dorothy, and worked on his crawling technique. We'd like to say a special thank you to Greg and Elizabeth for hosting lunch after church. It was wonderful to be able to visit with some many friends in one location.

Back at Grandpa and Grandma Rice's, Eli discovered that a good place to practice his swimming was in the bathtub. He also worked on his skills in Uncle Doug and Aunt Kristen's pool. He loves to splash!

Playing with his cousin Ben was next on Eli's agenda. Ben is about 6 months older then Eli but that didn't make much of a difference. Neither talk much yet but no words were needed as grunts and screams communicated their messages well.

We had a great time and can't wait to go back!

More of Elijah

I just thought I would post a few more pictures of Elijah. Enjoy!

Elijah is finally old enough to appreciate this toy airplane from his U.P. family. He really likes to take the pilot out and chew on her.

Here is Elijah enjoying his new little wagon. The intent was for him to pull it around once he started walking. This way he can enjoy it now.

If you look close you can see Eli's pearly white.

Here Elijah is hanging out with Amos's brother Peter who came down for a visit. I'm not sure who is having more fun, Elijah or Peter.

A time to heal...

It is hard to believe that in less then 10 months we have undergone 5 surgeries. Jeff has been through three grueling procedures and I have been through two. A week ago Wednesday, I underwent laproscopic surgery to remove my gall bladder. I had been having muscle spasms in my shoulder since last December but it wasn't diagnosed as gall stones until June. Thankfully, it was a relatively simple outpatient procedure. Poor Jeff has had to pull double duty since then. He is still recovering from his last surgery and now has the added responsibility of taking care of Elijah. He is a great dad and Elijah absolutely adores him. They have also been taking good care of Mommy.

Elijah has had several firsts lately. His first tooth finally came in after months of drooling. He is sporting a pearly white in the lower right front of his smile. He was a little ornery as it pushed through but is back to his happy self now. Be careful to stick your fingers in his mouth now! We can't forget to mention that Elijah also had his first overnight away this past weekend. He stayed at Aunt Meredith and Uncle Amos's house on Friday night and then at Nana and Grandpa Tucker's house on Saturday night. It sounds like everyone had a good time and still managed to get some sleep.

Elijah is working on learning to crawl. He can get up on his hands and knees and has even taken a few tentative "steps" forward but then gets back down on his stomach and pulls himself along with his hands while pushing with his legs frog style behind him. It won't be long now. We have already invested in some baby safety devices in anticipation that he will be getting around on his own VERY soon.

We thoroughly enjoyed the visit from Grandma and Grandpa Rice. The weather was beautiful and so we took advantage of the great outdoors. Grandpa Rice helped out by mowing the lawn one day and had a good time on the John Deere zero radius mower. We also headed to an orchard do to pick some peaches and nectarines. Boy, were they ever good!