Right Now: Elijah 18 weeks

* you are quite the giggler and very ticklish!
* it doesn't matter how I take a picture - you usually stare right at the camera
* your routine isn't the best but it's working (every 3 1/2 hrs)
* you are simply one of the happiest babies I have met
* you are such a snuggler
* your grip is getting so strong - I can barely pry your fingers off at times
* you are about ready for rice cereal & are intently watching us eat at times

Usual routine (on a good day)
Wake/Eat 7-7:30am
Awake/Play - 8-9:00/9:30
Nap - 10:00 - 11:00
Eat - 11:00-11:30
Awake Play - 12:00-2:00
Nap 2:00-3:00/3:30
Eat - 3:00/3:30 - 4:00
Awake Play - 4:00- pick up time
Come home - 5:30/6:00 - Nap
Nap - 6:00-7:00
Eat - 7:00 - 7:30
Awake Play - 7:30-9:00
Down for Bed - 9:00pm
Dream Feed - 10:30pm
Early Morning Eat: 3-4am  (seriously, I think this part should be done by now but oh well)

A Card

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

silly Messmores

Right Now: Elijah 17 weeks

* you are discovering your hands

* you are now really beginning to use your hands more and have grabbed certain things

* you hold onto any burp cloth like nobody's business!

* your smile is contagious

* you still aren't quite sleeping through the night - you get up once usually...and sometimes whipper for a little while

* you eat every 3 1/2 hours

* you would stay awake all day if we'd let you!

* we moved this week and it has been crazy! 

* your room is a restful green and it is quite soothing to sit in

* you're cute in absolutely anything I put you in!

* your gummy smiley is something that I never, ever want to forget

Right Now: Elijah 16 weeks

* you are such a sunshine
* you talk as loud as Ian sometimes
* your blowouts aren't horrible but they are colorful
* daddy is official sick with a mighty cold and you seem to have it just as well although you smile and coo after each coughing fit
* you can turn yourself in circles when laying on your back
* you stretch your neck out to see the TV if you are able to
* you look around constantly for Ian
* you are such a cuddle bug!!
* you will sleep through the night if you don't start coughing
* we are about to officially move and I'm nervous about how you'll adjust
* Grandma Price was here this week to help
* mommy is working at adjusting to baby world at work as well
* those little fists are almost always in your mouth & drool is just a fashion statement now for you

Life: Now-Tomorrow

You think of the life you live and really how beautiful it is...all the scars, the bumps, the bruises, the awkward interactions...God's enabled us to experience with free will. We enslave ourselves or choose to free ourselves. We allow ourselves or restrict, or both/and.

We dream of things for our selfish selves and then our perspective is broadened to include others. We realize this life really isn't about us and that it is for others, it is for Him. God, Jesus Christ to be glorified and His Holy Spirit to be our counselor and guidance.

We are guided to a larger view, a larger vision and purpose. He enables us to battle with battles we never thought possible to beat or to endure. He carries us through obstacles, challenges and dangers. He walks with us through tragedies and heart breaks. He is everything. He clears a path that we can't immediately see and then shows us slowly one step at a time with His light and still, small voice. He chooses the most innocent of us all to sacrifice and for him to come in the form of a baby, helpless and without fault.

He brings us life and in doing so, shows His love, His ultimate, beautiful, unconditional love and all He asks in return for Him, is to use us. What if we are to be used by God to help others? What if we are to adopt others into our families - figuratively as well as literally? What if we took the focus off of me? What if?.....

I think Mark and I might be beginning to live in some of the answers of the what if.......and where this will go..........well I guess we'll just have to find out, one obedient step at a time.

Right Now: Elijah 15 weeks

* you are so fun with so many expressions!

* you wiggle like a wild man on the changing table

* you make the sweetest noises

* you always try to find Ian wherever he is at and listen for his voice

* you're not adjusting the best to the new house and often cannot fall asleep there yet - too much activity or just too different for you

* I can't wait to get home to you each work day

* Ian loves you up so much!

* unfortunately I can't seem to get the pictures of you up!

* your drinking much more - 5.5 - 7.5 oz 

* you have done better with sleep in the night the last four nights...

* I think you could do a 3.5 hour schedule now but when at childcare you seem to get hungry around 3 hours consistently (say Miss Sandy & Miss Bonnie)

Right Now: Elijah 14 weeks

* you are one very happy little baby! your smile is infectious and you are so excited to share it
* you are cooing up a storm and seemed to have found your voice now
* I've taken some videos of you and hope that someday it will remind me of how precious you are at this age
* your routine has been royally botched since we began going to the new house so you're waking up more than once a night
* your giggle is more pronounced now especially when I take my fingers around your neck or in your arm pits - LOL
* you're totally in 3-6 month clothes and in size 2 diapers!
* we tried a tiny bit of rice cereal in your evening feeds but you've only seemed to reflux even more with us doing this
* you're now occasionally following your hands to see what they do
* you can slowly bat at things but you don't seem to realize that you're doing it until after the fact
* you really enjoy that swing and the bouncy seat
* you can wiggle your way off of the changing ottoman now so I have to watch you much closer
* you want to see everything and stay away for at least 1:30 now if not 2 hours
* you can eat every 3.5 hours if we keep you on target
* childcare is going ok...it's not completely what I want but mommy's letting go of that part right now with the new house and working
* your gummy smile totally makes my day!

{pictures to come soon}