What's Important...?

Dear Elijah,

I want you to know that we had an awesome day yesterday. The weather was gorgeous and after church your mom and I took you on a stroll through the Columbia Lakes property. We walked up to the tennis center and played tennis, and also played in the park. You got really dirty playing in the sand on the playground. But that's what little boys do...

You're really talking a lot now... You have Mommy's manners already. You're very good about saying 'please' and 'thank you'...!

Elijah, I want you to know how much I love you. And I'm sorry about not updating your blog much these past few months. Let's just call it temporary insanity. Because seriously, that's what it was. But I've re-priortized my life and You are right back in your regular place of honor.

My new routine is to update your blog every day right after my morning devotional. God is first. Then you, Mommy and Connor are right the very next items of importance in my life.

-I hope you don't mind being second to God on my list of priorities. You, Mommy, and Connor are my gifts from God. So I have to reverence God, first and foremost in my life.

But after God, nothing is more important to me than my family. And that's where I've been a little bit crazy. You see, I've been placing my career ahead of my family too much here recently. Sometimes I've even placed my career ahead of my relationship with god and that's a big no-no...!

Any way, Daddy's doing better now and I'm happy to report that You had a happy day yesterday, too!

Bye for now. Remember that daddy always loves you...!

Love,

Daddy

Special Note To Elijah

Dear Elijah,

Hello My Dear Sweet Son,

Your Daddy is very sorry I haven't posted on your web page in some time. The spring time is always a busy, busy time for me as you'll come to know as you get older. But that is no excuse. Honestly, You are way more important to me than my career.

And your mother will vouche for this: although I've been very busy with work, You and I have still had plenty of quality father-son time. (I've made sure of that...) It's just that I've had to cut back on all my blogs these past few months in order to have a little sanity.

Busy-ness has plagued me for sometime. I hope to have it defeated before much longer.

I NEVER want you to have to deal with busy-ness.

Elijah, I love You very much. I am so blessed to be your daddy. You have brought much joy into mine, your mom's and your brother's life.

I'll try to do a better job of documenting your life from now on... I want this journal to be a complete chronicle of your growing up years. I wish my mom and dad would have recorded more of my life when I was little.

Well, I need to close here... I love You, Daddy

Elijah at Play

Here's Elijah playing with one of the toys at church. He loves going to church and I think it's awesome that Elijah enjoys going to church so much... Church is really his social time. He's already got some good friends his age there and all the adults working with the youth just love on him and treat him like he was their own.

Photos from Elijah's First Super Bowl Party

Elijah had a great time at his first Superbowl party. It was held in the FBC West Columbia Family Life Center. There was a worship band singing contemporary Christian music, and Ryan and Danielle's little boy Eli was there for Elijah to play with as well.





Here's a photo of another one of Elijah's Buddies, Braden Bell...!

Mommy posted some photos and commentary on her blog, too. Check them out by clicking here.

Take a look at all those teeth...! Oh Elijah... This photo tells your life story up to this point. You are still just the happiest, smiley-est baby your daddy has ever seen...!

Boo Boo Down...!

Here's a sweet photo of Elijah stretching out on the big chair. He's had a big month so far... He's had the church super bowl party and a Valentine's party... Both firsts for the big E...!

Little Man

Here's Elijah wearing some clothes that his aunt Becky got him for Christmas. He looks so grown up in this photo... He loves his hat... He's definitely not a baby any more...!

Almost A Year Ago -Elijah Feb 2005

Dear Elijah,

I can't believe how much you've grown since last year...! You're getting to be such a big boy. You're walking and talking and in to everything...! I love chasing you around all over the place.

You've still always got a smile on your face. And you are just a joy and a blessing to this family. I Love You very much. There's nothing I'd rather do than hang out with you all day.

We've had a good opportunity to do just that these past few months as I have been recovering from knee surgery. I'd say that the extra time I've spent with you these past few months has been the most well spent time of my life...!

We're about to head up to the tennis shop together in a few minutes so I'm going to close here.

Love always, my sweet precious son...!

Daddy

Wrapping Up the Christmas Photos

Elijah likes to rock in the rocking chair at the tennis shop. That chair is almost 100 years old. It belonged to Elijah's Great Grandmother when she was a little girl.

There was some serious static electricity in the air the day this photo of Elijah was taken. He is about 18 months old in this photo...

Curly Hair'd Boy...!

I just love this little guy's hair...! He's had one hair cut in his life, so far. When I look at Elijah's hair I think about the scripture verse that says God has ordained his life and even knows the number of hairs on his head...!

Christmas 2006 -Opening Presents and Playing!

More Christmas Photos...!

Elijah got many educational and musical toys. The little music box shown above has been getting lots of play...!


Elijah had a an awesome Christmas. Here he is sitting on a present while he plays with his music box. The music box plays classical music and each side has a picture of an instrument that plays that individual instrument's part. It's really a cool present...!


Elijah admires his new Elmo chair while Connor opens up a present. Elijah was very excited about the Elmo chair. You can see the profile of Elijah's cheeks smiling in this photo...

Elijah's Christmas

Elijah already has more toys right now than I had during my entire childhood...! He got many cool presents this year and one of his favorites is the 'Big Red Car' my sis Becky sent...




The car is propelled by family members. In this photo Connor is doing the honors. Elijah wants to go for a ride every morning now as soon as he awakens. He wants to ride all the time. He even fell asleep in the car Christmas night... We'll publish some more photos soon...

At The Play Ground

This photo was taken Mother's Day weekend. After church we took Monica to a restaurant in Wharton and then took Elijah to a nearby park for some fun.

Elijah loves going down the slide with his big brother, Connor!

Note to Elijah....

Dear Elijah,

The photo tools to blogger aren't working correctly this morning so I thought I'd take this opportunity to write you a quick little message.

Son, you are growing up so quickly...! Your mom and I love you more and more every day. I honestly can't imagine life without you. I am so proud to be your daddy. You are the happiest, sweetest, cutest baby I've ever seen.

I love to hold you, play with you, just spend every minute with you... Yes, being your daddy is the best job in the whole world.

I hope that as you read these lines when you are older that you have nothing but fond memories of your growing up years. I have added your mom as an author on this journal too so hopefully you'll be hearing from her soon, too. She loves you very much, too. You and your brother Connor are her pride and joy.

Let me just close by saying again how much i love and cherish you my sweet little boy.

Bye for now and love always,

Daddy

Elijah's Toys

Here's a cute photo of Elijah surrounded by his toys on Thanksgiving morning. As you can see, he's holding his little Babolat tennis racquet.

Here's another photo of Elijah playing... It was a nice Thanksgiving!

Elijah has many more toys than I had as a kid. His little toy box has grown and now takes up a good portion of the living room...! I love to watch him play with his toys. I can imagine how his little mind is thinking. I love it when he pretends to talk on the telephone. I love to build things with him on his giant leggo set.

-I guess I'm learning to be a kid again...! Thanks, Elijah...!

Starting to Speak... Finally...!

Elijah loves his Kitty... He always tries to say kitty cat... He's almost saying Thank You, Teeth, and our favorite... AMEN...!

Elijah enjoys his Thanksgiving dinner... It's much easier to eat now that he's starting to get a full set of teeth...!

More Thanksgiving Meal Photos... Elijah loves Turkey...!

WeFinally trimmed his hair...

We trimmed a couple inches from the front of his face yesterday afternoon. Now it won't bother his vision for awhile... He's still months away from a visit to regular barber...

Ther are many exciting things to report about Elijah... He's wearing his first lace up shoes now... And he's really into 'organizing' things... He'll move things around and stack them neatly... It's really fun to watch him play...!

We're fast approaching Elijah's second thanksgiving holiday and his 16 month birthday...

The Happiest Baby...!

Elijah is a very Happy Baby...! He spreads joy every where he goes... Except when he doesn't want to be buckled into the car seat... And, we haven't tried to cut his hair yet... I'm afraid that might be a traumatic experience to him, as well...!

Here's a photo of Elijah at about 15 months with his favorite toy...'Kitty'.... He loves to cuddle his kitty....

Elijah's ball hopper

This photo was taken in October during a team tennis tournament at John Newcombes Tennis Ranch. Elijah climbed into our ball hopper early one morning before our pre match workout...!

Mommy and the Boo Boo

Boo-Boo is Elijah's nick name... When he gets old enough he's going to ask me why we call him 'Boo-Boo' and I'm going to say his mother did it...!

Elijah Update: As of October 19, 2006 (14 and a half months old)

• Still not speaking sentences. Elijah's main words are momma, mommy, and yummy.
• Had a piece of cheese for the first time recently.
• Loves to pray with us before meals. We'll say Elijah, lets pray to God and he'll stick his hand out for us to hold.
• Elijah waves Bye-Bye now...
• Elijah normally spends the mornings with daddy at the tennis center.
• Loves playing with balls. (tennis balls, basketballs, anything bouncy...)
• We haven't cut Elijah's hair yet.. It's getting long...

Fifteen months...!

This is an older picture of Elijah, but it's such a sweet photo of mom and son that I thought this would be a nice one to post for this morning.

Elijah is now fifteen months old...! He's still not talking but we anticipate words and sentences any second. We recently got him a new car seat. He's now facing forward like a big boy...! he loves that. He also loves to climb. He'll climb anything. (and everything) We really have to watch him every second.

Today we're taking Elijah with us on a trip to New Braunfels for a tennis tournament. We're all excited about our trip and looking forward to a fantastic time...!

One of My Favorite Photos

This photo was taken back on Easter earlier this year. We went to Pappasitos for lunch that day. Elijah is getting bigger and bigger every day. It's amazing how much he's changing. I cherish every moment I can spend with this sweet, precious little boy...!

Note to Elijah: Years from now when you are going through this journal looking at your life I want you to know how much joy you have brought your mother and I...

We love You very much...! -Dad

Coming and Going....

This is how Elijah learned how to walk during the summer of 2006

Elijah's 'first car' was a present from Granpa Arno and Granma Judy

The Bumbo Seat

This little seat is one of Elijah's favorite seats. In this photo he was so small that we had to put him into it ourselves. Now he is so big that he can get in and out of it himself....

He also has a nice big easy chair that he likes to sit in to watch tv... He's still a very happy, smiley baby!

String Job Inspector...

This was a photo of Elijah at a tournament back in May 06. He was playing with my racquets one evening in the hotel room and I snapped a few photos at the time...

Well, the US Open just finished yesterday and Elijah and I have started a tradition of watching the Open Men's Singles final together. Monica took some good photos of us watching it but I haven't downloaded them from the camera yet.

Elijah and I were both pulling for Andy Roddick to win this year but he was defeated by Roger Federer. I wonder if we'll see Elijah in the US Open finals one year...? It's possible. I can tell he really likes tennis. He's always running around the house with his baby Babolat racquet...

Elijah Update

This is one of those mornings when the blogger photo publishing tools are not working.

I will report (sadly) that Elijah's first real spoken word is 'MOMMA'. He can say Momma clearly and distinctly. And he knows exactly what he's talking about...!

I've tried to get him to say 'Daddy' but to no avail... Sigh...

Connor and Elijah Build a Fort

Here's a photo of Connor and Elijah playing together. Elijah loves his giant Leggo play set...! (Daddy does, too!)