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!)

Still Smiling...!

Here's the Smiley Boy riding his toy car early one morning.

Taking a Snooze...

This photo of Elijah was taken in May at Memorial Park Tennis Center. We had just completed a USTA event called a tennis block party. You can see he's a little bit sweaty... He fell asleep with his favorite toy in one hand and a snack biscuit in the other hand...!

The Elijah Report... Elijah is 13 months and one day old right now...! He's still a happy, healthy, smiling baby...! He's still cutting teeth... He's walking and running very well. His favorite television show is The Wiggles...

He's not speaking yet... It's still gibberish. But he definitely understands alot of what we say. It's only a matter of time before we're having 2-way conversations with him...!

Elijah's Trip to The Petting Zoo

Elijah loves animals...! Here are some photos of the petting zoo at Trainworld in California during our summer vacation visit to see Monica's parents...!

Resting on Daddy's Lap

Here's a photo of Elijah just relaxing his head on daddy's tummy... (nice and soft...)