Trip to Florida

This past week Aaron's job was flying him to Florida to recruit at two schools about 30-45 minutes from his family's house. What does that mean? Abby and Eli go to! It was such a fun trip. Eli got to spend lots of time with all his cousins. We were able to meet our newest addition, Lincoln John Foote born in August and spend some quality time with the whole family in between Aaron's class visits. Aaron worked on Thursday and Friday so I got time with both of my sister-in-laws which was so fun. We shopped a bit, got pedicures and ate lots of yummy food. The pictures below are just a brief overview of our time there.

Not the best picture of all five grandkids but great if you think about getting all five seated in one place.

Pool time pictures.

The End! :) Get it.

Eli- 9 months old

OK! So I am a crappy Mother. You can all say it. Eli is now 9 1/2 months old and I am just sitting down to write his 9 month blog. Life has just been out of control and I haven't been on blogger for over 2 weeks. My hubby is much better at keeping up with this stuff.

Weight: 17 lbs. and 3 oz. (this is the 5% for a 9 month old)
Height: 26 1/4 inches (this is the 2% for a 9 month old)
Head size: 44 1/2 cm. (this is the 26% for a 9 month old) I know...big head!

Well as you can see above he is growing well. I went to multiple doctor's appointments in the past two weeks and he has officially been discharged from his hernia doctor with perfect reviews and the NICU nurses just raved about how great he looked when we stopped by. His regular pediatrician talked about how great he was doing and had no concerns about him. Then his specialists for being a preemie raved about him and had nearly everyone in the office come by to see just how "cute" this baby was. They also said he was developing wonderfully and that he was "perfect!" He is getting nearer and nearer on the growth chart and at his point all we have to do is keep feeding him and working on normal baby stuff.

• He loves baby food and is eating wonderfully. He opens his mouth and leans forward when he sees the spoon.
  
• He is great about sitting in his high chair and wearing a bib.
• I am working on not being so OCD about everything being clean while he eats. ie, the chair, his face, and the tray.
• He still sleeps great, but isn't quite as interested in naps other than his morning nap.
  
• He sits SO well all by himself.
• He loves bath time. He is a big splasher.
• He will eat anything that we give him. So glad he is not picky at this point.
  
• He is in size 3 diapers.
• He is in size 6 month clothes.
• He doesn't love shoes, but is ok with them every once in awhile.
• He talks, jabbers, screeches, A LOT and is rather LOUD! It is lots of fun.
• He has found his tongue and loves it as well as his hands and feet.
  
• His hair stills sticks straight up most of the time, but I think it is going to start laying down soon which makes me a little sad.

All in all he is doing wonderfully and we are just still so happy and enjoying our little bundle.

Daddy's Eyes

The past two weeks of my life have been utter chaos! My staff returned and shortly there after my dorm of 250 woman returned as well. Please don't hear frustration! I am thrilled to have them all back it makes the dorm come alive instead of sitting like a dormant bear in winter, only a dorm not a bear and summer instead of winter. You get the picture. It was just super quiet this summer without everyone.

Them being back does just make the beginning of the semester a little busier for me, but I like it. All of that was simply to say that last week during move-in day one of my RAs Bonnie (affectionately referred to as Bon-Bon) took several pictures of Eli that have captured my heart. It is not only because he is cute as can be but also because he has his daddy's gorgeous blue eyes which I happen to LOVE!

Enjoy...

Eli eats big boy food.

Today was the big day! Eli ate steak! Our nutritionist told us that because he was so premature he needed to skip rice cereal and go straight to meat as his first food. So we started today on my mom's birthday with beef in beef broth. Aaron fed him because it just looked to yucky for me to handle. I got to take picture which was more fun anyways because I just got to stare at my little man.

He ate like a champ. He didn't really spit it out at all. These are a few shots that I got. I won't bore you with the fifty others.

Eli is 8 months old!

I cannot believe that you have been in our lives for 8 whole months! It is amazing! This month I don't have any measurements or weight because you haven't been to the doctor at all, which is a good thing. So we will just wait for your 9 month check-up to hear about how much of a big boy you are.

What he really thinks of picture time.

• Your hair still sticks straight up.
• You seem to be growing like a weed.
  
• You are in size 2 diapers, but borderline size 3.
• You are in size 3-6 month clothes still, but you are pushing the limits in some of them.
• Your poor little feet don't really like shoes. Your newborns are too small and your size 1's are still a tad big so I just make you "that kid" that wears sock and shoes even in the heat of summer.
  
• You smile and laugh all the time!
• You are still sleeping like a champ. At least one nap in the morning and one in the afternoon, but sometimes you surprise mommy with more.
  
• You still don't care that much about rolling over, but you can do it.
• You can sit on your own for small periods of time, but you are still figuring out the logistics a bit.
• You like looking at books in your boppy.
• You love for mommy to rock you to sleep(bad habit, but such a special time for me).
• You love music and are usually pretty content as long as we have some playing.
• You eat 5 times a day, every 3-4 hours, and you get 6 oz.
  
• You stare at us while we eat so I think you are preparing yourself for food of your own.

Most of all you are a constant source of joy in Mommy and Daddy's life. Not to mention all the grandparents and aunts and uncles who love you to pieces. I cannot wait to see what you accomplish in your next month.

Schmem Leaves KY

So Friday was pretty bittersweet. My dear friend Emily that you have read about in blogs in getting married in 2 weeks to a guy in Georgia which means that she is moving away from me. :( However, I could not be more happy for her and Jeremiah!

I got a little teary eyed, shocker, thinking about her leaving then quickly remembered that I will see her in two weeks for her wedding. It is going to be a great time. She will be a gorgeous bride and the day will be filled with special details. I helped with a few and have seen and heard about several others and it will no doubt be a day to remember.

Below are just a few shots of our last day together as Kentucky residents.

Kristin's Birthday

Yesterday was my friend Kristin's birthday. She said that birthdays were not that big of a deal in her family, but they were in mine so I asked if she would like to go out for dinner. We ended up with a party of 19 (including kids)! We went to Copper River Grill in Nicholasville. It was a ton of fun! We split up into a boys and girls table. It was precious because we had the "big" girls; Kristin, Emily Ellsworth (shout out to a loyal reader), Kelli, Maggie, Jen and myself, but sandwiched in the middle of the table were the little girls; Ellie, Molly, Lucy and Kristin's little girl Laney. There were lots of laughs and tons of smiles so I will just highlight a few.



Laney prayed for the meal and it was beyond precious. She thanked God for her mommy and prayed that her mommy would know that she is such a good mommy. All the mommy's were teary eyed when she said amen. Again we laughed all night, but the "icing on the cake" (get it birthday lingo) was when they brought Kristin her free ice cream dessert the server also brought a BIG brownie with ice cream, caramel, and chocolate sauce as well as a HUGE bowl of banana pudding covered in whip cream. It was comical because when he sat that down one of the ladies said, "Is that a bowl of whip cream?". It was just funny because that is what it really looked like.

We were all caught a little off guard because none of us had ordered dessert until the server said they were "from the men the next table over with a wink". I was very cute and made me feel like I was dating again when I looked over at my sweet husband and he just smiled and gave me a little wink of his own.



What a fun evening to show Kristin how special she is to us all.