Elijah's First Christmas

Today is our son's first Christmas. Today was a great day. He woke up about 6:00 and was in such a good mood. He has had a cold for about 2 weeks. His cold is finally getting better. Santa (aka mommy and daddy) got him a couple of Baby Einstein DVDs, a mozart magical cube (really cool), a Leap Frog play table, and a set of squeeker building blocks. From his grandparents he got a 5 in 1 play station, a Big belly bank, Octotunes, clothes, and CASH. He had a great Christmas.











This is how fortunate I am. We are so blessed because our son was born 5 weeks early. He was pretty healthy considering he was born so early. This is Elijah at 7 months with Santa Claus at his the NICU Christmas Party. He is a happy healthy baby boy who is the joy of his mommy and daddy's life. Everyday I wake up and am in awe of how smart and beautiful he really is. He changes so much from week to week. He is learning to crawl and is beginning to pull up some. He is so our world.

OK, back to Christmas, This is how Elijah looks in the mornings.

Merry Christmas Elijah























Elijah is really good at opening Christmas presents













Our First Christmas as a Family.








As this Christmas comes to a close, I pray that everyone has enjoyed their Christmas as much as I have. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Merry Christmas Elijah

Merry Christmas my wonderful baby boy. You are the best Christmas present mommy could ever ask for. Mommy and Daddy love you so much. Everyday that you are in my live is like Christmas day. You are my pride and joy. Merry Christmas my love. More about Elijah's first Christmas later.

Christmas : Ready and Waiting

I am so looking forward to this Christmas season because it is Elijah's first Christmas. We have all his outfits picked out for the respective houses and are waiting for Christmas to come. We actually only have a week and a half before we are going home for the holidays. My sister is graduating for nursing school on the 20th so we are headed to the cold state of Kentucky.

From time to time get in the mode to dress my son up and photograph him. This time, I made him pose for Christmas pictures. I think they turned out pretty good. What do you think?






What a face.







How about this one?





Or this?










I am kind of passionate about taking pictures of my son. Here are a few more I particularly like.






Also, here is a Christmas ornament that I made out of clay. This was a last resort. I wanted to use the clay to make an ornament with his hand prints but I couldn't get it to go deep enough to see the hand print.

Blessed and Stressed

I would consider myself a truly blessed women. I have a loving husband, a beautiful son, a wonderful family, a job (those hard to come by in this economy) and good health. The good Lord has been good to me. HOWEVER, if you have not been home alone with a 7 month old for a week, try it and see if you are not stressed by the end of the week.

My husband has been on a business trip this week and left me at home alone with our 7 month old son. Don't get me wrong he is a REALLY good baby, even though he is cutting two teeth, had a cold and had to get shots this week. But it is really hard to get up in the morning and true to get you and him ready to go to daycare, which means I give him his food and bottle, get his clothes on, make his bottles and baby food for day care, and then try to get myself ready. All of this occurs from 5:15-6:45 in the morning. Granted I do some prep work the night before but it is not easy. That is all before work. I drop him off at daycare at 7:00, get to work by 7:20, teach until 3:10 and go get Elijah from daycare. Then I have to go home and put away everything from daycare (bottles, dirty clothes, etc), wash his dishes, dry them, put his formula in his bottles, and prep things for him to have his bottle at 6:00. From 6:00 to 7:00 is another story. Elijah eats a bottle at 6 :00. Then as soon as we finishes that it is time for a bath. He gets dried off, his eczema ointment put on his arms and legs, his pajamas on and ready to eat his baby food by 7:00. I tell you what by the time I put him in bed I am exhausted (which is normally by 7:30). Then I might find time to get some supper for myself.

To make matters worse, just when I thought I was going to get a break from being single parent my mother-in-law called my husband and asked him to go with her to Mobile (3 hours away- one way) and get a refrigerator from his brothers house. I was NOT thrilled with this at ALL. I was looking forward to spending time with my husband tomorrow but oh well for that. I guess the part that made me the most angry was the fast that he didn't even realize how tired I was. MEN don't think sometimes.

Well enough of my rantings for now.

Elijah's first Thanksgiving and preparing for Christmas

This was Elijah's first Thanksgiving and he is completely exhausted as a result. We spent Wednesday driving home, which is ok because he sleeps in the car. Wednesday night we went to my mother in laws and got home pretty late, especially since his bed time is 7:30. Thanksgiving was pretty laid back, except for the fact that Elijah's stomach as been messed up because of his teething. His thanksgiving dinner consisted of a biter biscuit and some Sweet potato and turkey baby food (he really liked it).



Friday was a hectic day. We got up early to take Elijah to his Grammy's house. (This was his first time to stay with anyone besides daycare) Jonah and I went shopping for a couple of hours before we went to his grandparents house for Thanksgiving. He was so exhausted by the time that was over because everyone had to see and play with him. Saturday was a fun filled day of driving home.

Sunday was a day of preparing for Christmas. We aren't coming to be home much for Christmas so we put up a small tree.






I also felt like being crafty and created a glass block with Christmas lights that looks like a Christmas present. It was pretty simple to do except for the bow.




My sister is graduating from Nursing school on December 20th in Kentucky so our Christmas decorations are kind of sparse. We aren't going to be home for Christmas. I would not have even bothered with a tree had this not been Elijah's first Christmas. He loves lights. The Christmas tree really fascinates him.

Well thats all for now.

Elijah Harris

Thankful

Yesterday started a 9 day vacation for myself (my husband still has to work) and boy am I thankful for it. Everyone thinks teaching school is so easy but I am here to tell you that it is not. We are over worked, under paid and definitely not appreciate by students, parents or administration. So, a nine day vacation is grately appreciated. As we enter the Holiday season the things that I am most thankful for is my son ( the love of my life), my husband (who completes me in every way) and my family (who sometimes get on my nerves but whom I love all the time). This year has been extremely stressful but good. I started teaching at a new school, which I really like. We had our first child on May 1, 2008 ( the date on which our lives were made whole). That was a wonderful day but the ones previous were not so great. Throughout my pregnancy, I faced extreme swelling. To the point where at 4 months of my pregnancy I could not were my wedding rings. Once I reached my 8th month, things went crazy. My blood pressure started climbing (which I attribute to stress at work). This caused our son to have to be born 5 1/2 weeks early by c-section. As you probably guessed our son had to be put in the NICU at Baptist Medical Center East-GREAT NICU. He come out of it just fine (after a 12 day stay). He is now 6 1/2 months old and is completely health, except for his eczema -- NOT FUN. Leaving him to go back to work was the hardest thing I ever had to do. He is our little miracle. Coming up on his first Thanksgiving and Christmas make this year extremely speacial. As you reflect back on your life this holiday season, embrace the things that you are thankful for because in an instant they could change.

TGIF

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad it is Friday. By the end of the day on Friday all I want to do is go get my little boy, go home, eat supper and go to BED. My students seem to think that teaching is the easiest job ever. Well I am here to tell you that I spend more time working for this job than I did when I worked at GOODY'S.

This weekend I am going to try to finish Christmas Shopping. With a little one, money is short so I have to spread it out because I don't put it on the credit card. I hope ya'll have a great weekend.

Elijah

My son Elijah is my whole life (well, my husband included). Elijah is 6 months old and absolutely the most beautiful child I have seen. He has the funniest facial expressions. You can look at him and see absolute joy in his face. He has just started sitting up by his self and I am so proud of him. We are now working on crawling. Last night was his first adventure with Green bean baby food and as you might expect, he HATED it. I had to hide the taste of it with some sweet potatoes (which he loves).

The highlight of my day is when I get to leave my job and go pick him up from daycare. He is always so happy to see his mama (which he can say by the way). Seeing that smile on his face makes all the crap I have gone through during the day melt away.

I can't wait until Christmas holidays. This is his first Christmas with us and will be the center of attention at Christmas. I am also looking forward to the holidays because I am off work for two weeks and have that time at home with my soon.

Welcome

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