Naked

Look at that little piece of doughy arm skin where his shoulder meets his chest! Ahhh, don't you just want to eat it?

And, the way that belly just hangs over the diaper!!! I mean come on!

Why are babies so much cuter when they are naked? I always feel a little weird admitting that I would rather have Elijah run around all day in a diaper than have him clothed, but it is the truth!! Maybe it is my obsession with doughy skin that does it. I love having constant access to pinch, nibble, and cuddle his puffy little arms and legs. :)

Not, that he doesn't have cute clothes, because he totally does. Every single outfit he owns was given to him (with the exception of one pair of jeans we bought when he was 3 months old), so they are all very nice. But what could possibly be better than a baby birthday suit?

Laughter

Why is it so much fun to hear kids laugh? You just can't listen to a child laugh and not be happy...it is impossible. Isn't it interesting that God made it to where we learn to laugh before we learn to communicate verbally? I think it is God's way of telling us that it is fundamentally more important to laugh in life than pretty much everything else. :)

Elijah's laugh is one of the best sounds in the world! I love it! While he does chuckle with me at times, it is Daddy who really knows how to make him giggle.

I just put this little video of Daddy making Elijah laugh after feeding him up here for no other reason than to make you feel that boost of happiness kid laughter brings. Enjoy! :)

Love to all-

Rach

Here he is after the smack down occured...happy as a lark!

Here is the waiting period, trying to tempt Joni into putting her face up to the window.

He is very patient...

Here he is just about to touch the fish's eye. You can see me trying to move his hand out of the way to turn the page.

And, here is the "what? so, I love circles? what's wrong with that?" face...

Circles and Smack Downs

New Interests

So, recently Elijah has become obsessed with circles. We noticed this when we would read books to him and he had to touch every single eye-ball that appeared. Then we would see him carefully touching the spots on the ladybug picture on his bib. This led to poking us in the eyes; sticking his finger up our nostrils...anything that resembled a circle had to be touched. (More specifically it had to be touched in the direct center of the circle.) I'm not sure where this comes from or if it some sort of developmental phenomenon that occurs with all babies as they become aware of their shapes, but it has us wondering. It is rumored that when Ian was young he became obsessed with Splash Mountain after a trip to Disney Land. (not unlike Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind) For years he made elaborate models, drew pictures, and detailed outlines of the mountain itself. Could this be Elijah's first sign of strange obsessive interests?

Elijah also has a new found love for pretending to smack Joni in the face. For those of you that say he is the perfect little boy, this may surprise you. He will stand up against the back door window and wait till Joni gets up close and puts her face to the window (the first time I thought they were going to pretend kiss and I was filled with momma pride), but then he will swat the window as hard as he can right where her nose is placed, making a loud "pop" sound with his palm. Poor Joni, who was trying to be a friend, runs away, and Elijah laughs a deep belly laugh and awaits his next chance to lour her to the window again! I know it is horrible, but I have attempted to record both of these new interests....

Family Christmas Photo

So, this picture has a story behind it. Most of you know that I run a professional photography business from home. Well, when I decided to make a Christmas card this year I wanted to take a variety of black and whites of the family. However, being the photographer myself, I knew if we took any together I would have to use the timer. Now, normally this isn't a problem, but if you have ever tried to get a 8 month old to stare at a camera when there is nobody there to wave, clap, or make a funny face to get their attention, this is EXTREMELY difficult! So, Ian came up with the idea of putting the laptop right behind the tripod and playing a movie behind the camera, so Elijah would look in the right direction...hence the focused glare in Elijah's eyes. So, this was the best photo we took, which we all agree, has Elijah looking like a 19th century antique. :) We are also aware that Ian's hand looks gargantuan due to the perspective. Still, it is the only "semi-nice" family portrait we have, so there!

Few Photos

So, here are a few pictures from Christmas. One is Elijah with his cousin, Noah, in their matching outfits MiMi and Papaw brought back for them from Italy.

You can probably guess the other photos were Elijah's first visit with Santa. (Of course it helped that Santa was Papaw dressed up as Santa...it was easier without him being a stranger)

In the beginning...

So, I have felt guilty about not doing this for some time now and am finally glad to get on board with the blogging world. (Thanks Carolyn for helping me over the hump.)

As our lives change, family grows, and adventures occur I hope that this blog will keep all those interested updated on our journey.

Love to you all!