Happy 1st Birthday

Yes, Elliott did have his 1st birthday on February 19th. We celebrated by having not one, but two birthday parties. The Sunday before his birthday we had a group of our friends over. Many of them have young children as well. Here are few pictures from that party:


The birthday boy with his family.


Our friend Bethi and her baby girl, Beatrice.


Some of our friends enjoying the spread.

Susan made cupcakes for the party. Elliott wasn't quite sure what to make of the candle, . . .

but he sure enjoyed eating the cupcake.

The following Saturday, we hosted all 6 of Elliott's grandparents, as well as his Aunt Gail and her 2 daughters.

Grandpa Locke and Elliott spend some time together before bedtime.

Elliott really likes his presents from Aunt Anne and Uncle Torrey (fridge toys) and Aunt Lesley and Uncle Eric (puzzle).

Yummy cake!!!

Compare this picture to the one from the first party and you can see Elliott is interested in checking out that candle now.

Elliott got his very own cake. He actually ate quite a bit (see above).

Elliott plays his toy drum from Mommy and Daddy, while Mommy reads him a birthday card.

Two of Elliott's favorite toys are the bouncy ball he got from Jillian and the riding truck from Grandma and Grandpa Locke.

Elliott continues to grow. We took him to see the doctor on Friday. He weighs 22lbs. 6oz. (40th percentile) and is 28 3/4" (20 percentile). He currently has his first ear infection. The first round of medicine didn't solve it, so we are trying a second medication. Despite the infection, he is still a happy little guy. We've been enjoying the beautiful weather the past couple of days. Elliott has really enjoyed going for walks in his stroller. Mommy and Daddy like the side benefit that he sleeps really well that night.

Doin' Time Behind Bars

We finally figured out a way to keep Elliott from the stairs without building our own gate--we just put one in the hall that blocks Jillian and Elliott's rooms from the stairs. It was Brooks' bright idea. My bright idea was to get a gate with a door due to the high traffic nature of the area. It has a kid-proof foot pedal (even Jillian has trouble with it) that allows us to carry him and open the gate, or other heavy objects.

Elliott has mixed feelings about the gate.

Here's him with one of his birthday cards. You can see the grey foot door release pedal in this one. By the way, Elliott LOVED all of his birthday cards!

It looks like he is trying to climb it without success. Or like he is doing a happy dance.

Is he laughing or crying?

This pic is a little better due to flash. Now he's happy for sure.

Not anymore. At least Jillian is staying entertained.

Brooks has stated that he will try to post pictures from Elliott's birthday tomorrow. Please do not ask me about it. Talk to Brooks about it. Bug HIM about it, not me, as I do not want to hear about it.

I was hoping to announce Elliott's cool new skill of walking via video, which he has been doing for exactly 1 month now, but we still haven't figured out how to get them online. So, here is the best I could do in photo.

He's actually pretty good. He was close to getting promoted to the busy and crowdy walker room in the church nursery today, but thankfully they are waiting until he is a little more stable. That room is CRAZY, and I don't want him trampled!

Elliott should be behind bars for his newest feat--putting things in the garbage,...or sometimes the laundry basket, or the toy box. Sometimes he's putting it in the right place, usually not. Mostly he likes to take things out of the garbage, or at least play with the little flap on the lid.

Jillian's easter house craft is coming along nicely so far.
Last, but not least...

A Dozen Roses From Linda

I am a small group leader (with Linda as my wonderful co-leader when I'm not there, like this week when I was at the worst of my sickness) and I had shared last week a prayer request that can only be answered with a miracle or by God giving me a content heart and by trusting Him in the hard times. Linda sent these to my work this week to encourage me, and even though I wasn't there to get them, Mom when and picked them up and we enjoyed them very much being cooped up in the house with all the sickies. Linda is so sweet and thoughtful, and is so good at encouraging me. I still can't believe someone sent me flowers! They are so pretty--I love the mixed color bouquets of roses! It really did encourage me, and I'm thankful. Thanks again, Lins! My small group is just wonderfully amazing--I don't think I could have picked something this great myself! This one goes out to my favorite gals at 129 women's bible study: Jess, Kim, Lindy, Jenny, Ashley, and of course, Linda. You ladies are such a blessing!!! Now I know what my former leaders felt when they said things like that to some of my former groups. :)

On other news flash: we may be switching our blog to another site, very similar, but more updated, which will hopefully allow for more pictures to be posted. We must have started this one before all the cool features were available, so we can't do it with this one. We'll keep you posted about switching if and when we do.