Eli's Dedication

Cody and I dedicated Eli to the Lord on Sunday June 13, 2010. Many people think that baby dedication is the same as baptisim. While they are both public displays to the Lord, baptism declares that a person has been saved and that they are laying down their own life and walking with the Lord in a new life. Baby dedication is when parents promise to raise their child under the Lord's authority and that the child belongs to God first.

So Cody and I dedicated Eli. It was a special time for us. Even though we would raise Eli under the Lord's authority despite dedication, it was nice to have the support of our family and church family.

My parents


Cody's parents


Our family with Pastor John

Eli lookin' fancy in his dedication outfit made by Gran (Cody's Grandma)

Playing with Silas

Before Eli was born, Cody and I would watch our little buddy Silas. Silas is our buddy from church and his parents are so generous to share him with us. We enjoy Silas so much, that Eli's full name, Elias, was as close to the name Silas as we could get!!


It was fun to watch Silas before Eli. It was kind of like Cody and I got to play house. We were able to pretend we were a family with a child. When we would go out in public I loved it that most people thought that Silas was our child! (Sometimes, I didn't even deny it:) I just lavished the thought of having kids.) Needless to say, we loved having play dates with Silas prior to Eli, but it's even more fun with Eli here! Eli absolutely adores Silas. He constantly watches Silas's every move. Thank you Walker family for sharing Silas with us:)



In this video please note:
- Eli laughing hysterically at Silas
- How cute Silas says that the ladybug is actually "Spiderman"
- Silas refers to me as Cody. Even though I coteach his Sunday school class. He still refers to both Cody and I as Cody:)

I was very surprised that Silas fit in the bumbo seat, and I think his thighs fit way better than Eli's:)

Wapak Waterpark

A couple of weeks ago we had a fun family outing to the Wapak Waterpark! We met Mom and Dad Finnegan and Seth, Becky, and Hannah for a picnic first. We enjoyed a nice rain shower while we were eating and enjoyed the fresh rain smell:) M Hannah was SOOO excited to get to the water park! When we were eating Hannah asked me, "Will you play with me Auntie Erica?" She has this great questioning tone in her voice when she asks you a question that just makes you smile. (Guess you have to hear it to understand...) Anyways, after our picnic and the brief shower we headed to the water. Fun was had by all, and we had a great family day!

Eli wasn't all about the water this time...

Hannah was ALL about the water! She is so fearless. She even tried to sneak away from her daddy to jump off the high dive, but her daddy's cat like reflexes prevented her.

Storytime with Mommy

It has been challenging and fun to think of things to do to fill our day now that I am a stay at home mom! Sure I have plenty of things I could be doing like laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc. but those are NO fun! Instead, I like to play with Eli!!:) I've read to Elias before, but lately he has been actively listening to an entire story. He likes to try to grab the pages and put them in his mouth. Therefore I discovered that reading with both of us laying on the ground works great! It saves our books from utter destruction:)

Listening to the story of God's promise to Abraham and Sarah

God promised Abraham that he would have A LOT (like there are A LOT of stars) of descendants, so we looked at A LOT of stars on the illustration of the story.




















Hey Dad, Whatcha doin'?

My First Root Beer (By accident)

Every Sunday we have a great tradition of going out to eat with Cody's parents. It is great to be close to family, and to be able to take advantage of it:) We are very blessed that Eli can be close to his grandparents so they can enjoy him! Our family sacrificially gives their time to help us with Eli weather it be free meals, free babysitting, or just hanging out... THANK YOU SO MUCH!

So back to the root beer... every Sunday we go out to eat with Cody's parents after church. This Sunday we met at the A&W Root Beer Stand... YUM!!! We all received our tall frosty glasses of root beer, and Eli was sure eyeing my frosty mug. I figured since he's teething a nice frosty mug would be great on those sore little gums. So I offered Eli my mug and he went to town. When the waitress brought out our food and saw Eli chewing away, she brought him out his own little frosty mug with root beer and all! As I was letting him chew on his mug, the root beer splashed up on his mouth... I was proud that I didn't freak out, but rather enjoyed the moment.... his little face contorted about with the sugary liquid, but quickly turned to delight. Sorry to say that's the only root beer little Eli consumed, but I'm sure the days of root beer floats for Eli will come all too quickly.

It's an Eli sized mug!





















Playing with Papa is so much fun!





















Papa's boy

A little drool goes a long way! Good thing Papa is done with his mug!

Meeting My New 2nd Cousins

The past two weekends our family was able to travel to Tiffin, Ohio to go to a baby shower and a graduation party. Eli's 2nd cousin, Emilyn was born in April and loves snuggling. I got to sneak a quick pic of Eli and Emilyn despite the nap times. Welcome Emilyn!!

















It amazes me how big Eli looks next to these babies!

A quick family pic because we matched:)

Elias loves his Auntie Mel!




















Evan was REALLY interested in Eli.

Swimming with Granddad and Nana

Granddad and Nana (Erica's parents) took us to the Putnam County YMCA for Eli's second swim. We were excited to use his new floaty and to see how he would react to the water. Eli was very tired so although he enjoys the water he didn't give us much reaction. He spent about 15 minutes in the water and then fell asleep in Nana's arms while the rest of us continued to play in the pool.