Our Adventures over the past month!

This last month has been quite busy for our little family.  I am so sorry that I haven't taken the time to update all of you about our adventures with Lil' E.  

Let's just say...he is quite adventurous, and he doesn't get it from his mama!  He loves to giggle and play games.  He makes up games with Eli all by himself...his favorite one is biting Eli's nose and then laughing his head off while he pulls away.  He really likes the water.  He LOVES being outside.  He LOVES going to the grocery store (especially Trader Joe's because they give you samples) and he likes screaming at people.  (Yes, he's loud...very loud--he might get that from his mama!)  He also LOVES to eat...these days he's eating blueberries, pinto beans, spinach quiche (I know, right)...it doesn't matter what it is, how spicy it is, how much garlic it has in it (again, mama's influence)....he loves to eat.  

Here he is below trying to escape! (Just an FYI--this blog is not in chronological order because of the way I uploaded the pictures...sorry!)

This is a picture from Mook's 8th grade graduation.  (Mook, his grandmother Ms. Mary, and Darnell)
Emmanuel loves this red vase/jar thingie that we have.  He likes to drop things into it, and he like rocking on it (he gets his rhythm from his mama).  But notice that he is approaching the outlets...this is where mama said, "no" like four times and received no response, then daddy said, "NO!" and Emmanuel cried.  My mom says that this kid has me wrapped around his finger...say it ain't so.  

Uncle Wil came to visit and help us out on our house.  Here is Emmanuel playing a "game."  

Okay, now they are posing for a real picture.  Wil says that Emmanuel is going to be running all over the place soon.  This kid does have boundless amounts of energy--not sure who he gets that from (lol!)

We go to the grocery store A LOT.  When Emmanuel was first born, I went to the g-store just to get out and walk around and peruse the sales.  Now, we have so much fun and all the cashiers know him by name!  It' great.  We discovered that he is finally tall enough to ride in this seat. He had the people in superfresh laughing so hard because he could barely see over the wheel. He was screaming out of excitement and beeping the horn.  It was great!  Trader Joe's has these mini-grocery store carts for kids...I guess we'll have to try those next week. 

Our friends from North Carolina, Davin and Won-Jung Hong, came to Baltimore with their two kids, Zoe (you might remember her from a video post earlier) and Daniel.  Emmanuel and I got to hang out with the Hongs and the Chens (Justin, Catherine, and Evie) at this nice Korean restaurant pretty close to our house. 

Here are Emmanuel and Evie--these two are hilarious!  Everytime they get together they just stare at each other.  It is the funniest thing!  I can't wait until they get older to show them all of their baby pics where they were staring at one another.  

Emmanuel really likes Won-Jung--she is a pretty amazing wife and mother.  I like her a lot, too.  He likes to touch noses.  and hair.  and ears.  another game courtesy of daddy.

Bauntie Michelle graduated from High School.  She will attend Temple University.  I had the privilege of attending her graduation, but didn't get any pictures with her there.  This is a picture of her at her graduation party.  She brought this shirt for Emmanuel from Sicily when she went in April.  It says something like, "Someone who loves me brought me this shirt from Sicily."  

And, of course, no blog post this long would be complete without a picture of Emmanuel's weekly playdate buddy, Bella.  

And my playdate buddy, Jamie.  I'm so blessed to have her here in Baltimore.  She is such a source of strength and support for me.  Emmanuel is very comfortable with Jamie.  She's a great wife and mother, too....and she's expecting her second baby already!  I know, right!  At this point if you are thinking...hmmm....I wonder when Carmen and Eli will have their second...I can answer that for you...not anytime soon :) 

Emmanuel is sporting the curls! 

This is at Priscilla's graduation from high school.  Priscilla will attend Mt. Holyoke.  This is a picture of she and her mom.  Emmanuel is wearing her school colors.  

The happy graduate! Priscilla had perfect attendance for her whole school career.  Amazing.

Darnell's graduation from high school.  He will attend Morgan State in the fall.  

Stanley, Eli, and Brian (who also graduated).  

Tavon better watch out--Lil' E is going to grab that phone! 

Got a great deal on this inflatable baby pool.  And, thanks Grammie Judy for the sun hat.  We couldn't keep it on long, but we tried. 

I just like this picture. 

Mona's basketball banquet.  She and her mom might as well be twins.  They love Emmanuel and bought him all the suits that you see in these pictures.  

Mona and Lil' E. 
Well, that's a wrap.  His 1st Birthday is next week, but we will probably wait a couple of weeks to have his party--due to all the traveling that people do for the 4th of July.  I've been working on this theme for a long time...I will reveal the theme and plans in a later post :)  My mom friends who have gone before me say that with boys I have a small window to plan these themed-parties...so I'm starting as soon as I can.  

Stay tuned for the party details, my friends. 

Thanks for reading.  

Our happy boy and his bubbles ;)

Here's Emmanuel "experiencing" bubbles for the first time! 

First Steps

These feet are made for walking...
And that's what they're gonna do...

One of these days
These feet are gonna walk all over you!

On May 26, 2009, Emmanuel took his first steps.

Eli was holding him, and he walked to me.

What an amazing blessing and gift that we could both be present when Emmanuel walked for the first time.

Although Eli and I have experienced great pain these last few months, I am overjoyed when I look back over Emmanuel's first year (he is 11 months today) and think about all of the time that his daddy got to spend with him. Eli is an incredible daddy to Emmanuel. I learn something new everyday by watching him invest his time and his life into our little boy. He is a far better dad than I am mom, and I am so thankful that God chose us to be partners as we raise Emmanuel together.

We are committed to walking through life together. Whether that's supporting one another's careers or cheering the other one on while they run a race or hanging out with one another's friends or being an encouragement when our world has been turned upside down...

...or Praying over our boy...
...we are doing it together.

And, I am so thankful that we were there together for Emmanuel's first steps.

And, might I add...he is such a happy kid! I am humbled by his enthusiasm and his energy (I don't know where he gets that from!)

His feet were made for walking...and that's is surely what he's gonna do!

Thanks for your prayers for our little family.

Ma-ma-ma-ma

About a month ago, both Eli and I thought we heard Emmanuel say "mama," but we didn't get too excited or overjoyed because we had heard that a baby never says "mama" first...it's always "dada."  So, we just went on about our business and every once in a while, I would still hear Emmanuel struggle to get "mama" out.

Well, folks, Emmanuel made it very clear yesterday that he is definitely saying "mama"!  

And, he is saying it all the time.  He calls everything "mama"! 

Eli and I even detect a hint of a southern drawl in his accent...perhaps it's a sign...

I don't know if I should be excited or sad that he is beginning to talk.  I'm excited because it will be great to communicate verbally with him.  Little kids say the funniest things!  But, this means that my little bitty 5 pound 9 ounce newborn boy is growing into a 20 pound toddler, who will grow into a 7 year-old who prefers his dad over his mom, a 13 year-old who prefers his friends over his parents, an 18 year-old who prefers his girlfriend over everyone...and well, you get the picture.  

At the end of the day, as our baby is growing up right before our eyes, we just pray that he grows to be a man who prefers Jesus over everything. 

The Last Few Weeks of my Little Life

I know it seems like I've just been hanging around these last few weeks...

But, the reality is that my mama and daddy have kept me so busy.  We had flights scheduled to go to Nashville to celebrate my Granny E's 60th Birthday, but all of sudden, I felt really hot to my mama (who panicked!)  As it turns out, I had my very first fever.  Mama postponed the flight, took me to the pediatrician (those receptionist ladies oohed and ahhed over me), and she said that I had a double ear infection. 

Well, this news set my mama off.  All she kept saying was, "But, he nurses ALL the time!  Everytime he sees me, he wants to nurse....I thought breastfed babies weren't supposed to get sick...and a double ear infection...you've got to be kidding me."  Well, eventually, daddy calmed mama down...and even though the pediatrician said that it was ok to fly...mama wasn't so sure...so we waited a couple of days. 

We finally got down to Nashville...and had just enough time to take Granny out to eat.  It was such a fast visit that mama didn't even get to see her siblings.  

After visiting Nash-vegas, we drove to Chatt-town.  My Uncle Wil was graduating from college and my cousin Melanie was turning 50.  I was scheduled to meet a lot of family that I had never seen before.  Here I am at Melanie's 50th Birthday Party with my Grammie Judy. 

My dad got to spend some time with his childhood buddies who also had babies last summer.  I am the oldest...and the shortest...but mama says that's ok because I've got swag....she says that I turn it on every morning or something like that!  

Here I am with my cousins, Brody and Kaylee...I just played and played with them.  This is our "rockstar" pose. 

So, while I was in Tennessee, I got worse, and ended up missing Uncle Wil's graduation and graduation party because I was in the emergency room (and you know my mama, being in the ER in Chatt-town did NOT make her happy!)  I did get to congratulate Uncle Wil the day after.  

We ended up driving back to Baltimore--it is supposed to be a 10 1/2 hour drive from Chatt-town, but with me...it was more like 16 hours.  Mama and daddy stopped at Applebee's to eat some dinner...unfortunately for my mama they brought her mashed potatoes instead of a baked potato...but as you can see, I LOVED them!  yummy, yummy!  I got mashed potatoes everywhere...on my face...on my clothes...in my mama's hair.  It was awesome! 

My mama and I went to this tot lot with our friends.  I had a lot of fun...even though mama used most of her wipes cleaning off all the toys.  Mrs. Jamie used a lot of her wipes, too.  I guess those toys must have been dirty...but we had fun! 

Dad and I still take naps together sometimes.  Mama can't believe how short my arms are...she says that they are a lot like my dads. 

Bella and I are hanging out a lot these days.  We both really like playing on the slides. 

We saw my Bauntie Michelle off to her Senior Prom.  Mama says she should be on ANTM. Mama also said that she should have dressed a little nicer to stand next to Michelle that night.  Michelle is my Bauntie--my Baltimore aunite.  She just visited her family in Sicily, and she brought me back a shirt that says "someone from Sicily loves me." 

My parents and their friends also took Ms. Brooke out to dinner because she just graduated with her MSW.  These are the same girls who ran in the race with mama a few weeks ago.

So, it has been a busy couple of weeks.  Mama said that if she had to do it over again, that we probably wouldn't have made the trip to Tennessee.  For some reason, she doesn't seem to like it when I'm sick and thinks that traveling all that way couldn't have made it any better.  She said it's called "a mama's intuition," and that she should trust it more.  I don't know what that is, so I just smile when she talks about it.  

These days, I'm THISCLOSE to walking...standing for about 10 seconds and falling on my bottom.  I've also said "mama mama mama" a lot lately...I'm also really silly and laugh out loud a lot when I'm comfortable.  

Well, folks....until next time.  Thanks for reading about my adventures! 

Quick Update

Hi, friends. 

I just wanted to give a quick update and ask for prayer.  Emmanuel had a double ear infection, we traveled to Tennessee (he got worse), we came back (he got better), then Eli got sick, and all last night I was throwing up (we think it was food poisoning).  

Please pray for our family's health.  I do promise to write more later, but I wanted to give a quick update as to why I haven't had a new post. 

Thanks, again, for your prayers!

Happy Mother's Day!

I just want to say Happy Mother's Day to some women who are really special in my life!  

First, I'd like to give a shout-out to my great-granny Myrt!  You are THE COOLEST great-granny I know.  I don't know any great-granny who would travel over 16 hours in the car with 4 kids under the age of 8 just to come and spend some time with me.  You have set the bar a little high for my regular grandmas...but it's ok if they can't compete...we all know old-school beats new school any day!  I love you, great-granny Myrt. 

I also want to give a shout-out to my grammie Judy.  You are always buying me books and toys and things...and you raised my dad, so you get extra sprinkles on whatever dessert you choose--I know that was some hard work! 

And, Granny E...you are always surprising my mama with something--which makes her scream and jump up and down, and I either cry or laugh at her.  I hear that you call me the bronze child or something, and I'm just trying to figure out how I can reach "golden" status.  I'm gonna have to talk to my cousin James IV about that one. 

And...here she is...my mama!  This picture was taken today after church, and we are all wearing purple (my baby vest is purple).  So, if that gives you any indication on what kind of mama I have...she matches our clothes...she makes my baby food...she always has extra cheerios for me...she sings to me and holds me tight...she even cleans my smelly poop (that's really not up her alley)...she prays for me...she wears me in a baby sling...she doesn't miss a beat, even though she hasn't slept in several months.  

Mama, I love you...I thank God that you are my mama.  I know sometimes you don't think you do a good job with me...but let me tell you a little secret...motherhood is not about perfection...it is about trusting God to raise me in a way that honors him...so when I put mashed potatoes in your hair or pee in your face...it's ok...that's just how I'm showing my love and finding my way.  I love you! 

Happy Mother's Day!