Coming June 4th, 2012...

Happy First Birthday!

Happy Birthday homeboy! One year under the belt. It only took three hundred and sixty five for you to discover your favorite food... frosting.

We had Eli's first birthday party last weekend and he was all over that vanilla butter-cream. It took him awhile to discover there was cake underneath. We had a few of our friends and family over to celebrate with us. Eli took this time to show off his newly honed skill of walking. He walks and crawls about 50/50 to get around these days, but we still haven't gotten over seeing him walk across the living room. He's a growing boy.

Eli had his one year checkup today and all was good in the hood. He's returned to his "cultivating mass" phase and is back up to the 80th percentile in height and 60th percentile in weight.

Here are some pictures from his party and a video of Eli doing his thing below.

9 Months Old

Fourth of July in L'mont

Has it been 9 months? It's hard to believe Mr. Eli Jonas has been around that long already. He's changing quickly and it's fun to see how much he learns from day-to-day. Eli is crawling, making ma-ma sounds, cutting teeth, opening the kitchen cupboards, and starting to copycat certain things we do. He looks more and more like a toddler everyday.

He cut his first tooth a few days ago and it's just starting to poke out. Eli loves being mobile and fully explores every crack and cranny in the house. He has located the open button on our blu-ray player and thoroughly enjoys watching it open over and over again. He's discovered Leon's kennel and can't stop opening and shutting the metal door. He loves going for walks and now that he has his own little pool, he loves splashing around in the backyard.

Eli had his nine month doctor appointment this week and he is back to the 50th percentile for height and weight(20lbs, 28in). I guess all of the crawling and exploring has leaned him out a bit! Either that or he's slipping Denise Austin DVD's in and burning some cals when Mom's not looking.

6 Months Old

I don't know if it gets much better than a healthy, chubby 6 month old little boy. We had our 6 month check-up today and Eli is still hanging around that 75th percentile, except for weight that is, where he's pushing the 80th percentile. When the most he can do physically is sit up and occasionally tip over, I'll cut him a break on his weak calorie burning. He does love his jumper though, and when he gets that right leg in rhythm, he's got quite the vertical.

We're exploring new foods daily, and little boy is now chomping down on some of that fine puréed home-cooking. His favorites are bananas, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash. His faces after eating a spoonful of either peas or apples are that of pure disgust, which makes us laugh.

We've uploaded quite a few pictures of the dude (a few minutes worth) as he's grown and changed so much in recent months. We love him more than anything and couldn't be happier.

Kickin' It Up A Notch

"My name's Eli... what up world"

Stock the pantry, grab the high chair, and prepare for chaos. Little boy has been cleared to eat big boy food! Tomorrow morning Eli gets his first taste of that old household favorite, rice cereal. With 4 months officially under his belt, Eli is ready to belly up and grab some grub. Measuring in the 75th percentile in height, weight, and of course, head size, Eli is tipping the scales at 16 lbs 9 oz. I may just sneak him some chips and guac when mom isn't looking on Super Bowl Sunday.

3 Months Old!

Today Eli is 3 months old and we can't believe how much he has changed! He loves to smile, read books, play with his toys, sit up in his bumbo, follow any moving object with his eyes, and "talk" to mom and dad. Eli displayed his ability to roll over this week but has failed to give us an encore. Thankfully, both Grandmas witnessed the extraordinary feat. Next time the video camera will be on!

Over the last 12 weeks we have already celebrated four holidays with Eli. He's kept us on our toes and we've learned how to change diapers with one hand. We've come to learn how truly amazing our little boy is and how much he has blessed our lives.