Big Daddy-March 2007

Here's a photo of Elijah and Daddy back in March of 2007. I weighed about 242 pounds in that photo... A picture of poor health...! I'm happy to report that today my weight is down to about 215 pounds right now and I'm showing no signs of slowing down my weight loss...! I'm not stopping until I get below 200 lbs and that should be sometime around the end of this month or next month for sure... Actually, my ultimate target weight is 175 lbs. That was my weight when I achieved a number one doubles ranking in Texas Tennis back in 1997. YEA...!

I want my sweet baby to have a daddy in good shape who can run and play with him for years to come...!

Elijah, You've helped me in so many ways... Thanks for providing much of the stimulus for my motivation to get in shape....! I love you very much and want to be in the best condition possible so I can enjoy your growing up years with you to the fullest capacity....!

Love, Daddy!

Daddy and Boo Boo

This happy photo was taken at The 2007 USPTA Texas Conference Awards Banquet. Elijah is enjoying the Awards Banquet Dessert: Cheesecake...!

Yesterday was a long day at work for daddy. I didn't get to see you at all throughout the day and I missed you. Mommy reports that you were pretty good today. We went to dinner at Elmo's though, and you were pretty wiggly. After dinner you wanted to play tennis. I love how you love tennis. I hope you always enjoy it and it brings as much happiness into your life as it has mine...! -Daddy

The Giraffe Hat

Here's Elijah wearing the Giraffe hat we got him during a recent trip to the Houston Zoo a couple of weekends ago. Boy, was that a fun trip! We have to go back soon because there was way to much to see and do in one trip..! By the way, Giraffe's are one of Elijah's favorite animals.

Elijah, You had a nice day yesterday. (7-30-2007) You were very good for mommy. You came up to the tennis center and hung out with me for a couple of hours and that was a blast! I had to work a lot of work yesterday and I missed you. But When I came home we played together and you snuggled with me on the couch. Moments like that with you are the greatest moments of my life! My favorite thing to do in the whole day is to come home to You and mommy!

I love you very much. -Daddy

What a Day...!

MMMMmmmm.... We enjoyed a delicious home made chocolate cake last night for Elijah's Birthday.

July 28, 2007: It was an awesome day. A very, Very. VERY GREAT DAY...! Mommy posted alot of photos on her blog, too... Here's a link to Mommy's Blog

Happy Birthday Elijah...!

Random Photos of Elijah

Elijah Likes to 'organize'. Here's a photo of Elijah re-stacking can goods in our pantry.

Elijah loves his brother...! Here's a fun photo of Elijah and Connor clowning around at a restaurant in Houston.

Elijah Loves walking the dog. In this cute photo Daddy is helping shorten the leash.

Someone's About To Have A Birthday!

Boo Boo's Birthday is just a couple of days away...! I can't believe he'll be two years old...!

Dear Elijah,

Sorry that I haven't posted to your blog in awhile. It's been another really crazy, complicated, and busy summer for your daddy. I don't even know where to start... Thank Goodness Your Mommy has been blogging more frequently. She has been posting lots of cool photos and stories about you.

You are an amazing little boy and Mommy and Daddy love you very much...!

Love Always,

Daddy

A letter to My Sweet Elijah...

Dear Son,

I want to apologize for not posting in a while. It has been a busy, crazy time for me. The summers always are...

I just wanted to take a moment this morning to let you know how much I love you. You are the sweetest baby in the whole wide world...! You will be two years old in a little over a month...! I can hardly believe it....!

Elijah, since the day you were born my life has changed for the better. Having you as a part of my life makes every day just a little bit brighter. I can not imagine my life without you in it. Every day when I go off to work I can't wait to get back home to spend time with you, mommy, and your brother Connor.

I want you to know that I'm going to try to do a better job posting my thoughts to you on a daily basis because I want you to have this blog as a legacy of your growing up years. I look back on my life and I have many unanswered questions. And since both my mommy and daddy are gone now and I'll never have a chance to know what they were thinking when this or that happened.

But you will.

And You will always know what a blessing you are to your mommy and I. And you'll always know how much we love the Lord God Our Savior Jesus Christ...! Oh our God is an Awesome God...! We are all about honoring God in everything we do, because He first honored us...!

I thank God every day for you, my sweet precious child! God loves You.

And Elijah, Your Daddy Loves You, too...!

Bye for now,

Daddy

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...!