Bathtime fun

I bought these letters and numbers for Eli and you can see who has had the most fun with them. Chris went to give Eli his bath while I cleaned the kitchen and I could hear them playing so I got my camera to go take a pic and this is what I found! Seriously!

Eli would rather chew on the letters than play with them.







Eli sending Kate his love. (sorry for the naked shot!)

Holland's first bday

These are some pics from one of Eli's first birthday parties. Holland is Shelly's little girl. We had lots of fun celebrating her first birthday in Duluth. It was great to see so many dear people from my life in Duluth. Thanks for sharing this event with us.






Eli and Holland hanging out.












Holland, post birthday cake.

i promise i'll be back!

we've been a little busy since dead week was over. i'm so glad we took that week to just be a family, at home! since then, we have been to troy and mobile, al to visit good friends and family. then we had a few days at home before heading up to stay with my parents while we celebrated em and josh's return home, josh's bday, and lance & julia's next journey in life. sunday, chris started football camp at the high school so i decided just to stay up here with mom and dad until he is back home.

sorry i haven't blogged more this past month and a half...its really funny that april was the month i blogged the most (right in the middle of baseball season!). i have blogs coming soon about all of the expeditions from july.

here is a little update on eli:
he is 20 lbs now...only 10 more lbs and he will out grow his carseat! he loves to eat pizza, grilled cheese, quesadillas, black eyed peas, fruit-any fruit, and puffs. he smiles all the time...well, when he isn't tired or hungry like any other man. he loves to crawl around and walks around on the furniture. he has stood up a few times for 30 secs. i'm trying to keep him from walking until chris gets home from football camp thoug. he's a pretty fast crawler and has started climbing onto things. he loves to destroy anything he can get his hands on. i enjoy him so much and am so blessed to be able to stay at home this school year with him.

until next time...

dead week!!!

The name "dead week" sounds dark, sorrowful, and depressing but let me tell you, it is so far from those words it isn't funny. Dead week is the week in which all high school sports stop. Don't get me wrong, I love being a coach's wife. I truly love it. I love going to the games. I love watching Chris coach and I love watching him interact with his players. I'm even ok sharing him with the guys but I do need my time with him ALONE when he doesn't have anything sports related to think about. It was a very productive week: garage organized, check. yard looking beautiful, check. date night, check. dinner around the table, check. check. check. baby boot camp, check. family pics, check. great time as a family, a gazillion checks.

This past week has been great that I even wrote a little ode to dead week (along with the help of my husband)...

dead week, oh dead week,
how i love when you come around.
my honey do list has been checked off
and my husband has stayed in town.

no games. no practice. no two-on-ones.
just me, my man, and our precious little one.

our yard finally looks as good as the baseball field
and we've eaten at home almost every single meal.

our child is now sleeping through the night
and we've made it all week without one fight.

dead week, oh dead week
i wish you would stay
your my favorite week of the year
thanks to the GHSA.

I took a few pics while Eli was watching his daddy mow the back yard. I think he would have watched him all day long.





Chris, thank you for making this such a special week. The attention you gave me and the yard :) was much needed and appreciated. I love you so much! Now onto football season!! Go Raiders!

baby boot camp

This week has been dead week, thanks to the Georgia High School Sports Association. I'm pretty sure a coach's wife came up with the idea. :) All sports must cease from practicing for this week all across Georgia. We usually use dead week to travel to Mobile but this year decided to spend it at home. What a blessing it has been, but more on that in the next post.

Since Chris wouldn't have anywhere to go all day or anywhere to be early in the morning we decided to work on Eli's sleep habits. This has been the hardest thing I have EVER done. The thought of letting my baby cry out it may be the most inhumane thing ever to do to a child. But as my mother says, "The best thing you can do for Eli is help him to sleep through the night." Well the first night was horrible, dreadful, awful, and terrible. Last night was a lot better. But for some reason, my body just screams inside while he cries, "Go pick him up! Hold him! Love him! Kiss him! Nurture him! Protect him!" I hope he stops waking up during the night soon. I don't think my heart can take it much longer.

Pray Eli will adjust and things will get better. And that this mother's heart doesn't burst inside while he cries out for me during the night. Oh, it eats me up just writing that last sentence! Eli, just know that I'm doing this for your good and to help your little body grow and get the rest it needs and that this is possibly the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I love you precious one. Love, Your Mommy

oh america, how i love your birthday!

have i mentioned yet that i love summer? i know christmas should be my favorite holiday but if i'm being completely honest, i have to say the 4th of july is my favorite. (maybe i need to move to the southern hemisphere so i can enjoy christmas during the middle of the summer. then i might change my tune.)

there is something about the summer...the fresh picked garden veggies, warm air, cool water, 9:30 pm sunsets, playing in the creek, summer sports, oh, i could go on forever.

this 4th of july weekend was just perfect. the cool breeze made the boat dock a perfect place to park my toosh for the weekend. this was chris's first weekend off for the summer and we had a blast hanging out, laughing, eating, and celebrating our country's birthday. eli loved the water and spent lots of time in his float. he spent most of his "naptime" looking out the window trying to see what he was missing out on. we had so much fun hanging out with the barrys' and kafskys'. thank you guys so much for including us for all the summer holidays...we are truly blessed to have you as friends.

boat ride. i love the look on eli's face.
i don't think he was so sure about the his life jacket.

kiddie pool party with LBK and clay

sweet little one.

swimming with dad.

burton firework show. a. ma. zing.

pre fireworks show. i wish the camera could truly
capture the scene, but it doesn't even do it justice.

full house during the fireworks show.

mother-daughter-granddaughter

attempt at a family shot

"naptime" bless him. he can't take missing out on the action.

captain kafsky and his crew. i'm pretty sure they stayed on this raft from 11:30 am until 5 pm. no exaggeration!

i hated to see this weekend come to an end. there is no way summer is halfway over! we had lots of fun and made lots of sweet memories. until next time...

beach trip 2010

wow...are you sure that june is almost over? i can't believe this month flew by as quickly as it has. just a little recap: youth camp. 40 baseball games. yes, i said 40! yes, in one month.. beach trip. fl. ga. sc. nc. i think the car ride to and from the beach was the first good convos chris and i have had in a long while. it was much needed.

these are pics from this past bluster beach trip. everyone, all 21 of us blusters, were there at some point during the week. that is the first time since 1999 that we have all vacationed together. we had a blast and enjoyed each other's company all week. i hated to see it come and go so quickly. poor eli didn't get any attention at all. i hated it for him! here are my favorite pics from the week.

eli heading for the beach. day 1.

sensory overload.

seashells. which he couldn't keep out of his mouth.

heading for the waves.

best seat at low country.
boys at provision company.
girls and eli at provision company. yes, we have a baby at a bar, but with
a two hour wait we opted for eating at the bar.
bare bottom.
first sucker from papa. and he loved it. sucked it to the tootsie roll.

white and khaki. nana's request.fam pic.
i love josh's face in this pic.
loved rocking on front porch.