Three New Teeth?

Ummm, yep. Eliana has 3 new teeth on the top. The crazy thing is one of them has been there about a week and we never knew it! It has been a while since we have put our fingers in her mouth. With her bottom two, she had a consistent fever, drooling and a runny nose, no fussiness. With her top, nothing. No symptoms. No fussiness, no drooling, no runny nose, no fever, nothing. We had no clue. I was feeding her this morning and thought, "Self, you need to check her gums. Why not." And I was surprised
to find visible ridges for her front two and then the one to the left, all the way out and completely visible! I couldn't believe it. Three teeth we knew nothing about. I heard that the top hurt a lot more when they come out, so I have been trying to prepare myself for it. My baby has five teeth, what? Where has the time gone? She is also eating three different things at dinner now, two veggies and one fruit. She eats puffs, drinks juice...soon she will be going off to college! She hasn't really been sitting up well, because she sees something across the way and would rather roll to it, but the past two days she has really been sitting up and catching herself to remain stable. She has also been getting up on her knees, so crawling isn't far off. But in the mean time, she gets most places scooting on her head, yes, I said head. She lays on her back, arches her head all the way back where she can see what is behind her, puts her bottom in the air and pushes with her feet. I will have to get that one on video. But for now, here are a few pics..


Jason decided to create a new hairstyle during bath time. Nothing like a good faux hawk. She seemed to like it.




I do exist! Mothers don't seem to make it into many pictures. At least this one doesn't. Most of the time, I am the one grabbing the camera. The poor thing won't even know I was around. Notice her hair still in the faux hawk formation. I don't think her hair got brushed after bath time. Or is that normal for her? Her hair has been known to do some crazy things.

Pat the Bible

When we were at Hill Country Bible Church even the littlest baby was taught God's Word. They had a special song that they sang to them, called "Pat the Bible". Jason and I need to get the actual words to the song, but we have been incorporating our version into Eliana's nightly routine.


A while back, a book club that I was involved in read "Wrapped in Rain" by Charles Martin. I was inspired by the woman in this book. She was a strong, Godly woman. She was a servant in the home of a very mean man and she sacrificed so much to raise two young boys. Here is an excerpt:
"Miss Ella, why do you read to us? I don't understand half that stuff."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a brass engineer's plumb. "See, the engineers take this, hang it from a string, and that point, that place on earth where it hangs, becomes the plumb from which everything else is built or measured. Without that point, that place, there's no order to nothing. It's just chaos. The plumb is the starting point, the beginning and the end, the..."
Mutt broke in. "The alpha and omega?"
Miss Ella smiled. "Yes, honey." We jumped back in bed and she patted her Bible. "I'm trying to build you boys up straight..." She paused, thinking for a minute. "With strong walls, square corners, and able to stand when the storms come. But I can't do it without a plumb line."
Later, one of the boys recall Miss Ella reading a chapter a day to them. He said, "By the time I reached high school, Miss Ella said that we'd read through the bible five times."


Some would say that Eliana is too young to understand the Bible right now. There are times, as an adult, I feel I don't. But Jason and I believe the bible is living and active. God created her and knew her, before we did. So, we feel it is important to introduce her to the God we know, now. We bought her her first bible for Easter. And that is the bible we use to read to her at night. Hopefully this is a routine we won't break to soon.

Finger Foods!

Eliana has moved into the world of finger foods the past couple of weeks. We have started her on the new Gerber puffs. At first she didn't like the flavor, but now she gobbles them up! I read that usually when they start with the finger foods, the food is picked up with the thumb and index finger and then crammed into the mouth with the palm of their hand. And then they develop placing it in their mouth later. Eliana actually started out by placing it in her mouth with her fingers! I am so impressed with her! Each day we are more amazed by how much she is growing. She is the length of the changing pad!

She is getting so big!

Everyday I look at Eliana and notice how big she is getting. She is an amazing girl that I am so honored to raise. I look at her and see in her so many great things. She smiles and laughs all the time, so I know that she will be a fun person. She has Jason's calm nature, so I know that she will be patient with people. She is so sweet and loving, so I know that her big, loving heart will touch so many lives. I love this little girl!

Here are a few pics from a church bbq. Notice the sippy cup! She is still learning. It is a little heavy for her, but boy does she love the juice!