On the job front... There weren't all that many jobs out there that are along the lines of what he's been doing (and despite the schedule and always being outside, he really enjoys the work) but in the last week or so, the listings have been exploding. Our goal was for him to find something by the end of December, and we're still trusting God for that. Financially, we have been blessed bigger than we could have ever hoped for. Thanks to the extreme kindness and generosity of others (which they informed us was 100% God led), we are not hurting. I'm 97% done with our Christmas shopping and the kids will be having a super awesome Christmas. Being able to get them new jammies and tick off the items on their lists is important to me. Its worldly and a privilege so many people don't get, so we are extremely grateful to be able to do it. Jesus is the reason for the season, but at the same time, I am determined to keep the magic and traditions alive with them. When they grow up, I don't ever want them to look back and have anything but amazing warm memories of Christmas. Every other year, I do everything I possibly can to exceed their expectations on December 25th.
On the baby/birthday/Thanksgiving front... Since I last posted, Eli has turned 6 and then 7 months old. He blows me away every day. Since Daddy started being home all the time, it's a total free for all on sleeping, but I can't be sure that he wouldn't be doing that anyway. From what I hear, so many babies are inconsistent sleepers. He's healthy, and that's more important to me. When we took him for his 6 month check up and shots, we were so relieved when that scale said he was still under 20 pounds. Sure, it was only 2 ounces under, but we were scared! His carrier is only rated for up to 22 pounds, and we're just not ready to move him to a car seat and give up his grocery store/Walmart naps...
For Halloween, we took him to Boo at the Zoo. He could not have cared less about the entire thing. I'm hoping next time he's more interested in checking out the animals. Maybe if it's a little warmer he'll be more interested... We did, however, get him the greatest costume ever and so a lot of the other zoo patrons were EXTREMELY interested in HIM!
On November 7th, Hubs turned 32. I am a birthday person, and I had desperately wanted to make a bigger deal about it and make it more special for him. I am so blessed to have a husband who values my intentions and desires as much if not more than my actions.
The week of Thanksgiving was pretty big time for our little family. On November 20th, Eli turned 7 months old. On November 19th, he busted out his first word! We're pretty sure he's been saying "Hi" for a while, but since that's a very breathy sound, it can go either way. But he does it in response to someone saying it to him, so... Anyway, that's not what we're calling his first word. He was in his exersaucer, and I was packing up his diaper bag. He looked up, saw the bottle in my hand, and started jumping and yelling, "Ba ba ba ba ba ba!" Since we've been calling it his "baba" (to encourage him to say it, too), it was OBVIOUS what he was saying. Love my little nugget learning food words first! We also think he's trying to say "Mama", which makes my heart just about explode. On the 23rd, he got his 1st tooth! We were out running errands and when I went to give him his bottle, I noticed a little white spot on his gum. Stuck my finger in his mouth for confirmation, and yup! A tooth had FINALLY broken through!! For his first Thanksgiving, we introduced meats (turkey, obviously.) and he did just fine with them (the only thing he hasn't liked is green beans). He had a sleepover with Aunt Katy and Uncle Bernie that night so Mommy and Daddy could hit the sales (Toys R Us was the big winner this year.) He slept like a champ for them! Saturday night, he went and spent some time with some sweet friends from church so we could go bowling to celebrate my big Dirty Thirty birthday. He is seriously the greatest baby EVER. When we picked him up, his little eye was gooey and swollen. Was he cranky and crying? Nope! He was smiling and babbling and his happy self. (Our friends felt absolutely AWFUL, but we know it was nothing they did, and kids get sick so why would we be mad?) He'd been that way (happy and babbling) all week, despite a runny nose (which we blamed on the weather change. We both had it, too, but found out we were actually sick. I had a sinus infection and Hubs had bronchitis.) Sunday morning his eye was literally crusted shut and he still woke up smiling! His pediatrician called in some antibiotic eye drops and by Sunday night, his eyes were almost all the way back to normal. Monday he had another little surprise for us in the form of a 2nd tooth (over achiever!). He's just growing up so fast, which I hate but less than I thought I would. He's so fun, and we're having a blast interacting with him, so it's kind of hard to be that upset about him "growing up". He's still my snuggly little baby, so it's okay. Hubs was gone so much when he was working, it's been the biggest blessing for all of us that he was here for all of these firsts with Eli. Watching our son grow TOGETHER is beyond words. Just God blessing us over and over through a seemingly terrible situation!
So, I'm 30 now. For a long time (we're talking YEARS.), I've looked forward to my 30's. I went through so much in my 20's. Some of it was so wonderful (it's when I met my best friends), but so much of it was horrible, and I'm ready to leave it all behind me. I truly believe that God has mind blowingly wonderful things planned for me in my 30's. These are going to be the best years of my life, my "glory days" for reasons that no one thinks of when they're young and imagining their glory days. I'm looking forward to growing in my faith, and seeing how that makes me a better wife, mother, sister, daughter, and friend. Ooo warm fuzzies just thinking about it!
Happy Thanksgiving!
So yea, life is far from perfect, but we are perfectly blessed.
