Leslie's Little Smittles: Eli's Birthday Post

I can't believe it's already been a year since our Eli joined our family. He has brought joy to my heart in a way I can not explain. I have such deep deep joy that the Lord blessed us with another boy to complete our family. He's a cuddly, funny, sweet boy with a wild sense of adventure and fearlessness.

After we had Isaiah I never really understood what people were talking about when they'd say things like boys were so wild and how they were so disgusting and full of energy. Isaiah has always been pretty laid back and easy going. Eli, on the other hand is EXACTLY what they were talking about.

He's literally been on the go since he was a day old. He started crawling at 3.5 months old. He was going up the stairs by 4.5 months, and was walking by 9.5 months. Now he runs and climbs on anything he decides to. I find him in chairs, on tables, in beds, and on bookshelves. He'll just grin and laugh when I find him. It's like he's saying, "Yup. You just wait mom. It's just going to get better and better!"

Eli has also brought a whole new noise level to our home. He loves to sing, and holler. A LOT. He's a really happy baby, so he doesn't really cry much except when he's at the table and thinks there's something on our plates that he's missing out on. He says, "mama", "dada", "bubba", "ball", "this", and a lot of other things from time to time, but not on demand. He recently said "thank you" when we gave him his plate at dinner. So sweet.

He also REALLY loves for me to hold him and carry him around, so there's a whole lot of that going on too. Ha! He'll stand at my feet while I'm cooking and hold on to my legs and jump up and down saying, "mamamamamamaaa!" until I pick him up. Then he'll just put his cheek in my face for a kiss. Once he's got that he's good to get back down and play. He's still REALLY crazy about momma, but I know my time is coming. Soon he'll go over to the other side and like daddy more. I'm OK with that as long as I still get squishes and kisses.

The poor boy has LOTS of nicknames. You know if you read my blog or hang out with me that I do nicknames for all the kids. Honestly, for some reason nicknames are easier to get right than real names. I mean, wouldn't you rather be "Shug" instead of "MiaEmmaAddiOLIVIA!" Anyway, we never call Elias by his real name. He's mostly Eli Jones, but also Jonesy, BubBub, Buster, Bum, Budah, and LeeLie. These aren't all mine. I came up with Jones, but the kids all have their names of choice, and Manly calls him Buster.

I'm in love with our latest edition and the completer of our family. I can't wait to see his personality bud, and his love for his family continue to grow. The Lord has big things for Eli Jones. I just know it! Happy First Birthday, Elias!