Lovin' The Camera

Eliana loves the camera. Sometimes if I just want to get her attention, all I have to do is just pull out the camera and as soon as she sees it, she smiles and laughs. I couldn't decide which I liked best, so I am posting all of them. If you enlarge them, you can see two of her top teeth!

9 Months Old

Eliana Grace turned nine months old yesterday! So hard to believe. Another tooth decided to make its way to join the other three on top. She gets up on her hands and knees all the time, but has only learned to make one movement forward, then it's on to an army crawl. She is our big girl and our delight! She loves music and loves to dance to it when you stand her up. She also said the word "cat". I know it was an accident that it popped out when and how it did, but it all happened when I was feeding her breakfast. Our cat loves to lay under the high chair, just where Eliana can see him and be distracted by him. She was chatting away in her baby talk, when all of a sudden, she, without skipping a beat, glance down plainly said "cat" and then continued with the baby talk. Never a dull moment!

Yesterday we also had an opportunity to have a bbq with several couples, at a park about a mile from our house. It is amazing how God has surrounded us with awesome people. There were 8 couples, 18 kids and 3 puppies! It was so much fun. This was the first time Jason and I have been to that park. We decided to go more often, Eliana laughed really hard on the swing.

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!

Just Because...

Catchin' Up

Now that we have internet, it looks like I have some catchin' up to do, so here goes...

Jason's first Father's Day! What an exciting day. I have had the idea for his gift since I was pregnant and we found out we were having a girl. There are many special moments between a father and a daughter, but nothing compares to her wedding, where he gives her away and shares a dance with her. I didn't want that special moment to begin there, but on Father's Day. Each year, Jason and Eliana will share a dance, that is as long as she is home. I found a really cool scrapbook. It was more like a leather box. (A little more manly) It had two magnetic flaps that opened up to the photo pages inside. This year they danced to Stephen Curtis Chapman's, Cinderella. I placed the lyrics on one page and will place their picture on the other. Each year we will add to it, ending with that special dance on her wedding day. I wanted to make that dance so much more special to her. Here are a few pics of the book. The front quote says it all, "Though you grow before me, you're still my baby girl."



And here are a few pictures from their first dance on Father's Day 2008.

WE HAVE INTERNET!

Four weeks, two office visits (not a nice receptionist), about 20 phone calls, 4 service visits, 2 canceled service visits, 2 modems, and a new router later, we have internet! I never knew how much I depended on it, but being at home all day, I felt it was my connection to the outside world.

Jason and I took a walk downtown to eat dinner tonight. Here are a couple of pics so you can kind of see the town we are in.

This is our house, at least for the next year. We love the neighborhood.


This is on the walk to downtown. It is such a nice environment. Everyone out and about.



This is Eliana in a pub. The burgers are really good and really cheap!

Grandma and Grandpa Maples' House

AKA longest post ever!

First I want to apologize for the late posts. We still don't have internet at our house, so I have to take what I can get. I am in Jason's office. Hopefully we will get internet soon. We also don't have phone or tv yet. Oh, the drama!

Anyway, I want to finish the pictures from our two week detour from Texas to West Virginia. After visiting my college friends, Eliana and I headed north to Kansas City, Missouri. Christa drove me, and although I was with her for four days, I feel like we had the best time talking on the 2-1/2 hour drive to my parents. Strapping the kids down does make a difference I guess. Eliana and I missed Jason dearly, but we had a great time with my family. I did put Jason on speaker phone a few times and Eliana would just smile. She had a lot of firsts away from her daddy. She walked in a walker. She had no problem with that one. She was all over the place. She sat up by herself, she sat in a swing, and played in a baby pool. Again, she did great sleeping even though it was a new place and another different crib. I was so proud of her. We kept her from some of her naps though, and the cranky face emerged. The girl has got to have her naps. Maybe she gets that from me. Mommy LOVES naps. Here are some pics from her adventure...

Eliana loved spending time with her Grandma Melissa


Grandpa Tommy sharing his words of wisdom with Eliana


Aunt Penny and Aunt Pam reluctantly posing for a picture


Hannah, a girl that mom babysits, and cousin Joy enjoying Eliana


Eliana and Hannah's sister, Alyssa catchin' some rays


"I think this rope looks really tasty. I must try to eat it."


"A stuffed toy that moves. Maybe I can pull its hair. That is if this box I am sitting in would stop moving."


"I love this swing Mommy."


Cousin Joy doing a great job at entertaining Eliana before her t-ball game


Eliana was a hit with all of Joy's teammates. I almost didn't have to use sunscreen with all of the kids blocking the sun wherever we went.


"If you get in my way, I must try to run you over."


"Yeah, we are almost home! I can't wait to see daddy!"
Eliana did great on the flight home. Although it was interesting getting through the airport by myself. FYI if you have a stroller travel system. All of it has to go through the x-ray machine. So, take the carseat with baby out first. Put the stroller through and then take the baby out of the carseat and put it through. Didn't know that, quite interesting doing all of that while holding the baby. We sat in front of two men on the plane and I heard them comment on a baby being in front of them. I thought, "I'll show you!" She slept the whole way. As soon as we took off and woke up right when we were getting ready to land.


We flew into Baltimore, so we went to the Cheesecake Factory at the harbor. It was so much fun and so beautiful. Eliana was excited to see her daddy! And so was I!

Good Times with College Friends

After visiting Jason's parents, Eliana and I headed about 30 miles north to Bolivar, Missouri. Jason and I went to Southwest Baptist University there. I was able to stay 3 nights with my best friend from college and roommate of several years, Christa. She has 2 boys, so she enjoyed having a little girl around. Nathan, her husband also attended SBU, so we had a great time. And of course, he understands how funny Christa's mind works and had to endure the two of us. He thinks I rub off on her when I am around. Who, me? I love spending time with them, because I just laugh and laugh really, really hard. My friend Drew from college also lives there, so I was able to spend time with him, too. And one night another friend, Jon, came to have dinner with us. It was so fun to see all of them. It almost felt like old times. It was a little strange when Christa and I took the kids to the campus and walked around the union. It was like I could look across the union and see an image of myself back then and at the same time walking the same path with my baby. So many memories. One day we even had to duck and cover from a possible tornado. We went next door to a business and went in their basement. Nothing like nursing a baby in a dark, unfinished basement, in the middle of a storm! Eliana did great on the trip. Didn't skip a beat. She seemed to feel comfortable wherever we went.

Here is pic of me and my friends. From left to right, Drew, Me, Jon, Christa and Nathan.