Eli turns 1!

Flowers that Cody sent me for my "bad day". They are so beautiful. I wish they would stay that way forever!

My beautiful Eli. He is so sweet and adorable. He is the most snuggly baby ever!

Noah got his new hat from Bass Pro Shop that Nanny and Pop got him. You can see that his pants are too big and have to be rolled up a little :)

Eli thought it would be lots of fun to smear his birthday cake all over Mimi's table!

Just about to stick his cute chubby little hand into his cake for the first time!

Eli playing with Makena. He has always adored Makena. She is so sweet with him and really with all babies!

Eli wearing his cute little hat anticipating the cake to come....he didn't know anything could taste so good!
ELI IS ONE!

Well, my baby turned one on October 1st! I cannot believe that it has been a year since he was born. It just feels like yesterday. He is no longer crawling and is constantly on the move and into everything! We had his first birthday at Mimi and Paw Paw's house in Jonesboro and had a fish fry. It was nice for some of Cody's family to get to see the boys that usually only gets to see them on Thanksgiving (maybe) and Christmas.
Carlie, Makena and Trey were able to come to the party and we were so glad. I know Noah was so happy to get to play with Trey and Eli adores Makena. We had everything decorated with Elmo and he had a cute cake just for him. When he first stuck his hands in the cake he did not know what to think. I'm pretty sure that it took him a few minutes to realize, "hey, this is food!" He began to eat it and got quite a bit in until we finally decided he had enough. I don't think he would have EVER come to that conclusion.

We had a good weekend. Eli got clothes, a Ming Ming (which was his favorite), trucks, a new car seat, and even diapers (which were very much appreciated!).
Noah got the flu from Uncle Casey the same weekend and so on Monday after Elijah's birthday he had to go to the doctor. Thankfully, he did get Tamiflu. Eli and I also got it as a preventative. I did not know it could be used as that, but it can in certain instances. In our case it was very probable that Eli and I would get it from the close contact that we had with Noah and so the doctor said that he would put us on the medicine just in case we did get it and then the effects would not be as severe. We survived that week and made it through right up to the weekend. Cody had a pre teen retreat to attend at Budd Creek. He came back very refreshed. It was nice to have that kind of refreshing breath of God's goodness in our home.

This past week has been stressful in some ways, but it has also been very nice to see God's unchanging hand magnified even more than before. I read the book "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers and it has totally and completly changed my outlook on the Love Christ gives us. My husband new that Monday was a rough day and he had flowers sent to me. They are beautiful and in the gorgeous fall colors.