Eli's first trip to The Grill

For those of you from Duluth, you know how important The Grill is to Old Duluth. For those of you who aren't from Duluth, let me explain.

The Grill, also known as The Rexall, is a small restaurant tucked inside of an old drugstore in which old local Duluthians frequent often. One of those locals being my grandfather. If you go there on most mornings, you can see a group of men, young and old, gathered in the back of the restaurant eating gravy biscuits, sipping on coffee, and telling far-fetched tales.

Since I was a little girl, potty trained that is (Papa's rule), my Papa would take me up to the grill for breakfast. Any child accompanying their father or grandfather would always get educated while partaking of their 3 small pancakes with butter. There are many things I myself learned from eating at The Grill with my grandfather: like how to make a lie sound like the truth and how to hold your own when talking with a bunch of old men about football, basketball, or whatever sport's season it was.

Now that you somewhat understand...today was Eli's first trip to The Grill. Papa and Nana took us down there to eat for lunch. (I don't think Eli's ready for the morning crowd yet.) Papa was so cute showing Eli off to everyone in the restaurant. I had such a great time and was delighted to continue on the tradition of going to eat with my Papa at The Rexall with Eli. And I was honored that Nana came along for the trip as well. Here are the photos from the day.

Papa showcasing Eli around The Grill.

Nana with her sweet little great-grandson. I didn't mention we also took him to her work to show him off to LOTS of co-workers. She works at the local bank in town and has since I can remember.

Eli in the kitchen with all of Papa's girlfriends.

Eli and Papa playing together at their house.

Holiday Festivities

Our Christmas break was quite different this year. Eli made things a whole lot different for us. We had such a great time loving on him and sharing him with all of our friends and family.

We made a quick trip to Mobile after Christmas to see some family and then had some of our friends come visit us to celebrate the New Year. It is crazy what all can happen in a year's time. I can remember pleading to the Lord around this time last year that I just wanted to know what was going on and where He would take us. There were lots of uncertain things happening then and I just thought, "What is God doing?" Well I guess he was up to some major things. Since pleading with Him, we have had lots of major changes. Chris and I were just talking about it last night that at this time last year we weren't pregnant, he worked at a different school and had different coaching jobs than now, and I was still a third grade teacher. Now we have a son, Chris has a new job, and I stay at home! Wow! I'm glad God didn't reveal all of that to me this time last year...I might of freaking out and had an anxiety attack! We are so thankful for all God has done in our lives and we know that each gift and every day is given to us from above. Here are some pics from the holidays.

All of us picking out our Christmas trees.
Eli in his Christmas pjs with reindeer hat from Aunt Emily.
Eli and me by his new stocking. I have the same picture of me with my mom at my first Christmas. Our whole extended family has this same stocking made with love by Mrs. Mary Evelyn Jackson. She had Eli's made the day after he was born!
Eli visiting with his great grandmother, Francis. This is my grandfather's second wife. She is so sweet and took such great care of my grandfather through his battle with cancer.
The new Kirby family came for a visit. Congrats Zach and Kate!
Eli with his new friends, Haleigh, Madison, Zoie, and Alex. Haleigh and Zoie belong to Noelle and Madison and Alex belong to Jessica. Noelle and Jessica are my friends from Young Harris. We got together a few days before Christmas to hang out and catch up. It was great to see them.
Chritmas night reading the Christmas story with Eli. This is a family tradition.
Chris, Eli, Trei, and Brock at the Akridge-Stallworth-Hendrickson Christmas party.
Eli met Coach Jeff Ward. He is one of Chris's best friends.
Jocelyn looking on at Eli.
Girls, girls everywhere! Reese and Kiley and Gabbie and Jocelyn hanging out on New Year's Day with Eli. He didn't know what to think of all those girls. It was great seeing you guys - Hawarahs' and Blacks'!

Our Gift From Above...

I know it has been a long while since I last updated my blog. I guess you can say things have changed in our life! Elias Mason Akridge was born October 9, 2009 at 6:26 pm. It was a smooth labor and delivery. Eli weighted 6 lbs. 9 oz. and was 19 1/4 inches long. Since then Eli has gained a lot of weight! Here are some pics from birth until now. Hope you enjoy. And yes, I know he looks nothing like me!

Eli during the Auburn game. His only UGA win so far! Thanks to his great grandmother and great uncle from Alabama for the outfit. It proved to be lucky.

Just hanging out. What a face!

One of Eli's first pics thanks to Julia, our photographer.

Cute little guy sleeping through the Raider game we were listening to.

Mirror Image

I just wanted to share a funny picture of my dad and I at 32 weeks of pregnancy. It is funny how much our bellies look alike. Mere took this picture Thursday night before dinner. I know some people also wanted to see my belly. I am still measuring about 3 weeks behind where I'm supposed to be but the baby is growing fine and things look good inside my belly. So praise God for that. It doctor says I am just carrying it in a way where I don't measure as big as I should. Which is ok by me! Maybe it will be easier to take off this weight. I also reached the 10 lbs mark at my last visit. If I add the 13 lbs I lost during the first five months...it makes 25 lbs total that I have gained since I stopped losing weight. Just keep praying for a healthy baby and a smooth labor and delivery.

Baby on the Way!

We had our first baby shower this past weekend. It was a Habersham shower that was filled with lots of wonderful people, great food, lots of pregnant girls, and tons of awesome gifts! I want to thank everyone for coming and for being so gracious to Chris and me. Here are some pictures from the event and a new pic of the baby...ultrasound, of course.

This is Jen Kafsky and me. I'm opening a diaper sack that is covered in Georgia Bulldog material! Sorry Chris, there is no hope for a Alabama fan in this belly! By the way, Jen is due the Thursday after this picture is taken.These are the hostesses, minus Julia. (She had to leave before we took the pic.) I am so blessed to have such wonderful women in my life! Each one has a special place in my life and heart. Thanks again for an awesome day. Chris and I are so blessed by you guys.

The food...and boy, was it good.

Here is the new picture of the baby. We had a surprise ultrasound on our last visit just to make sure that the baby is growing. I am not showing very much and measuring a couple of weeks early, so they wanted to take some pictures just to make sure everything of growing the way it should be. As soon as Chris saw this picture of the profile, he said, "Look at that Blackburn mouth!" (Blackburn is my mom's maiden name.) I think that is funny because I don't see it at all. What do you guys think? All I see is Chris Akridge's head!

From Worst to First!

We have been spending the past few days taking our yard from the worst place yard to the first place yard. Well, probably not the first but we are well on the way. As of yesterday, we only had a small patch of sod that was brown, and mud and rocks for the rest of the yard. It was a pitiful excuse of a yard. Chris decided that we needed to sod the yard to make it look better before the baby comes and we have another mouth to feed. (That is a direct quote from his mouth.) Well, I know a landscaper that does some pretty good work so I called him up and asked him to help us out. :) We are so excited by the way it looks now. Thank you Dad, Felipe, Jorge, Chris, and Meredith for laying sod and making our house look so beautiful.

This is a before short. (well not really, but its the closest thing i have to one)Yes, this is Meredith running the tractor.

Chris and Felipe laying the sod. They worked their butts off today. I tried to help but was quickly reprimanded.

The finished product. Amazing! To get a clue of what it looked like before, just picture red dirt and big rocks throughout the whole yard. And make sure to not picture any green in the picture.

Sweet Home Alabama!

During July we went to Alabama for a week. Our first stop was in Troy to visit Chris' college roommate and best friend Justin and his family. They just had their second little girl, Reese. She is the little one Chris is holding in the picture. It gave us a little bit of practice holding a newborn. I think it was also a reality check for me that I have a baby inside of my body! Crazy! We had a great time hanging out with the Hawarah family. It was a lot of fun. I want to thank them for letting us crash with them while they were adjusting to having their new baby girl home.

Our next stop was Mobile. The other two pics are from our time spent with Chris's family. It is always a delight to see them and spend time with them since we don't get to see them as often. The first picture is of us with Chris' grandparents. They are so adorable! I love listening to his grandfather's stories. I reminds me a lot of my own grandfather. And his grandmother is so full of energy and spunk. I love her too death. The other picture is of Chris with his cousin Zack and two little friends Jackson and Carter. I think they wrestled for three hours straight! Needless to say, Chris was worn out and sore after all that wrestling. I think he's getting old. We enjoyed our time hanging out with everyone in Mobile. It was lots of fun.