Reflections on Christmas

As we pack up the decorations and un-trim the tree, our hearts turn to what we have learned this Christmas season:

• Sometimes a laid back pizza party with dear friends can be as meaningful as an eight course Christmas dinner.


• When we make much of Christ, we don't have to worry so much about making little of other things.


• We've learned the value of celebrating Advent, and we've embraced the tradition of the Jesse Tree.


• The best parts of Christmas are not centered around the things we prepare for each other, but rather the time we spend with each other.

Getting Crazy!

Before his bath each night, Elijah loves to get crazy in his crib. He squeals, rolls around, and just has a good ol' time. We think he is just precious!

O Christmas Tree...

I love Christmas trees, and growing up, my mom always had a family Christmas tree that she decorated with lots of beautiful ornaments as well as a kids' Christmas tree that my brother and I got to decorate with ornaments we had made over our lives and ones that had been given to us. This is definitely a tradition I would love to do with my children as well.

This year since Elijah cannot make his own ornaments, Gigi gave us lots of precious little boy ornaments for Elijah to use to decorate his very own tree.

Tearing This Place Apart

Elijah loves to play on his playmat, and just recently he learned a new trick!

Little Drummer Boy

We are trying our best to make a drummer out of our little boy! I have saved several of his formula cans, and I often set them up like a little drumset and give him a wooden spoon to bang on them with. He loves it! In this clip, David and Elijah are trying out the real thing!

Nana comes to China for a visit!

In November, Nana came to China to spend a couple of weeks with us. Her visit was such a blessing to us and especially to Elijah who loved her so much.

Nana brought lots of new toys for Elijah to play with including a sweet nursery rhyme bear. I have to admit that at first I wasn't sure what Elijah would think of it, but alas, he loved it, (and David and I have grown to love the entertainment the bear provides)!

Nana and Elijah had such a wonderful time together!

Everyone gets a little silly when it's time to play with Elijah, especially Nanas.

When I was growing up, one of my favorite books was The Monster at the End of this Book. Nana was so sweet to bring the board book version of this book to Elijah, and even got a chance to read it to him before bed one night.

Elijah's First Thanksgiving!

We had lots of friends and lots of food for Elijah's first Thanksgiving celebration. In all, we had 10 adults, 3 children, and 3 babies with all the trimmings: turkey, gravy, stuffing, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, creamed corn, creamed spinach, green bean casserole, zucchini casserole, rolls, and all kinds of pies and pastries for dessert. Elijah had so much fun with all of his little friends and even got to watch Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving on video. We are truly so thankful for the blessing God has given us in Elijah, and we were so thankful to be able to spend such a memorable day together.

Elijah is 7 Months Old!

Elijah turned 7 months today! We praise the Lord for his amazing turnaround in eating and growth as he weighed in at 17 pounds 2 ounces and measured 27.5 inches putting him on the 25% curve and 75% curve, respectively.

7 New Things Elijah is Doing Now:

1) Sitting up all on his own!

2) Talking out loud to all who will listen! (His favorite words are "ghee" and "baa". Nana says that is short for "good boy".)

3) Laughing at everyone and everything.

4) Eating lots of new foods: carrots, sweet peas, pears, sweet potatoes, green beans, rice cereal, apples, butternut squash, and bananas.

5) Pushing the buttons on his toys (and learning how to push his parents' buttons as well).

6) Rolling over and over to get to something that he wants.

7) Pooping at least twice every day! What a mess!

Sing Along Book

Each month we pull out a couple of new toys for Elijah to play with. For November, we gave him the Sing Along Nursery Rhyme book. This video is of him when he first began playing with the book. Now he can press the buttons and even help turn the pages!

Elijah's First Rice Cereal Meal

We started giving Elijah rice cereal last week, but this week is really the beginning of him actually eating it. At first, he just pushed it all out of his mouth not really knowing how to swallow it, but now he gobbles it down. This afternoon, he ate more than 1/2 cup of rice cereal which was shocking to me. He just kept wanting more! Soon he'll be eating us out of house and home! All of this is truly an answer to prayer.

Jump & Go!

Every month I pull out one or two new toys to introduce to Elijah. This month was the Jump & Go door jumper. At first he really didn't know what to do in the jumper, but he quickly understood the fun he could have in it. He still doesn't do a lot of jumping (unless we bounce it for him), but he really loves spinning around and playing with the toys in the tray. We usually let him play in it while we are eating dinner which is really great because he is self-entertained while we enjoy our meal.

Elijah is 6 Months Old!

Elijah has reached half a year, and he continues to be such a joy in our lives. Using our primitive weighing and measuring system (holding him on the scale and marking on a sheet), he is weighing in at 13 pounds 14 ounces and is over 26 inches in length. He remains under the 5% curve for weight (due to his recent nursing strike), but we are hopeful that as he is eating more each day he will quickly climb the charts. He is still riding the 50% curve for height and will probably be a little tall like his daddy.

He is doing all sorts of fun things like "talking" to himself, almost sitting up on his own, grabbing for things, holding people's faces, smiling at everyone, teething on everything, drinking from a sippy cup, eating rice cereal, chewing on his feet, "reading" books, and making us smile every moment.

We love this precious gift more and more every day, and we cannot imagine our lives without him!

Pictures with Mom and Dad

Adventures in Hong Kong!

After leaving Taiwan, we traveled to Hong Kong for some doctor's appointments and to visit with our dear friends who just moved here. Elijah was enamored by all of their sweet boys!

While in Hong Kong we decided to take Elijah for a ride on the Peak Tram. The tram was originally opened in 1888 and has gone from a steam engine to an electrically-powered system, to a microprocessor-based system. The track is 1.4km long with a gradient of between 4 and 27 degrees throughout. It literally feels as if you are going straight up at times! We had a great time together a made a great family memory!

Up, up, and away!

More Adventures in Taiwan!

On our way to eat lunch and see TaiPei 101- the tallest building in the world!

At Chili's with a chocolate milkshake!

TaiPei 101- The Tallest Building in the World!

Elijah finds his feet!

We have arrived at yet another momentous occasion in Elijah's life! He has found his feet! He actually found them a couple of days ago, but I am just getting a chance to post the exciting news.

Adventures in Taiwan!

We have been in TaiBei, TaiWan for a meeting this week, and we have had lots of adventures to share.

First we went with Elijah's nursery worker to see some of the city and then to eat dinner. We went to see an old famous suspension bridge which moved when you walked on it. This bridge was at a lake with fog coming off of it which reminded me of a Chinese kung-fu movie. We all had a great time walking and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Taiwan has no shortage of American food chains, and we definitely have had some good eatin'. One place that we have especially enjoyed is Chili's. We had chips and salsa, chicken crispers and a burger. Delicious!

While in Taiwan, Elijah had his first Starbucks experience. Though he wasn't able to try the coffee out, he definitely enjoyed the atmosphere. He is well on his way to joining his dad in becoming a true Starbucks snob.

Elijah is 5 Months Old!

Elijah is 5 months old today, and we are so in love with him. We weighed and measured him today, and although I'm pretty sure we did not get completely accurate measurements, he is weighing in at 14 lbs. 6 oz. and measuring 25 3/4" in length. He seems to get cuter and cuter each day and is always doing something new. Just yesterday, he decided to say his first word which was, "Oh". Actually, that is the word for lotus root in Chinese, and we were just sure he was asking for some. He continues to love Chinese people more and more, and even gave a huge smile to a grandmother with missing teeth just the other day. He enjoys playing with all kinds of toys, and he loves for David to play the guitar for him. He still loves bathtime and morning time (definitely his daddy's boy in these areas). He loves rides in the stroller and playing with other babies. He has started doing cute things like burrying his head in our chest and rubbing his eyes when he is tired. We still have lots of fun names for him like "Little Papoose", "Babycakes", and "Sweet Cheeks". What a blessing Elijah has been to us these 5 months.

Visit With Friends

This past weekend we went to visit some dear friends of ours who live about 5 hours from us. Elijah did really well on the journey right up until the very end when he decided he'd had enough. We kept him in the carseat until we got into the "slow part" of town at which time we decided the world would be a better place if I let Elijah sit in my lap (I know you are cringing Nana and Gigi). We all had such a wonderful time together just talking and sharing. Elijah got to make two new friends, Sophia and Bella, which he really enjoyed. He was so enamored with watching Sophia (she is 2) as she "helped" him and "read" to him and "taught" him so many new and exciting things. Bella, who is just a couple months younger than Elijah, was so sweet to share her playgym, and Elijah just loved getting to play with her. We all left encouraged, challenged, and blessed to have such wonderful friends.

A Hard Day...

I debated about whether or not to write this post for several reasons: 1) Maybe this crazy day would look better after a good night's sleep 2) By not writing this post, you might go on thinking that Elijah is perfect (like his mom) 3) I am tired after a long day and weary from motherhood. But alas, I am sitting here with my sweet husband writing this little note to say I've had a hard day.

Elijah awoke this morning with a sad look on his face. (He normally wakes up so happy so the sad look was a little surprising.) That was the beginning of his "terrible, no good, very bad day." When I sang him his good morning song (This is the day the Lord has made...) he cried. Then when David changed his diaper we realized he had leaked through his pajamas and onto his sleep sack for the very first time ever. Then I fed him, and he fussed throughout the feeding as if to say he was still tired and inconvenienced by my waking him and feeding him. Waketime- Elijah spits up all over the chair, all over the floor, all over my pants, all over his playmat, and then all over himself. He hardly ever spits up, and this gave me no small mess to clean up. Finally, nap time- thank goodness. He slept well, but again woke up cranky. The only thing he smiled about during that diaper change time was when he tee-teed all over the wall and the changing table and the floor- another first! Another fussy feeding and another fusssy waketime not wanting to do anything on his own- no swing, no playmat, no singing. He didn't even want to be read to. Thankfully, naptime came again quickly. It's 1:30 and time to wake Elijah again- he is sleeping so soundly, and I so badly do not want to hear him fuss again, but he needs to eat so I go in and gently wake him trying to cuddle him so he does not get cranky again. He is sweet for a few seconds and then gets irritable seeming to be hungry. I change him again and feed him again but am interrupted halfway through the feeding by a man who says he is here to change out our modem since our internet has not been working. Several minutes into his task, he calls me into the office to help him, and as it turns out I know a lot more about changing out the modem than he does which is just crazy since he is supposed to be the expert. After several minutes of me trying to explain to him in technical Chinese about how a modem works I finally tell him that I need to finish nursing my baby. This time Elijah is upset because the milk isn't coming fast enough since I had to interrupt the feeding. He eats a little and then remains fussy again not wanting to play and especially not wanting to be read to. I put him down for a nap at 3 and he is to sleep until 4:30. But awoken by yet another guy who is trying to "fix" the internet, he is up at 4 and ready to fussily eat again. When David walks in the door at 5:00 I am so thankful and so ready for a break. I put Elijah in his bouncy seat and let him watch Praise Baby. He is quiet at first. After a few minutes though he realizes that the babies on the tv are not real and that mom and dad are, and he insists on having a real person come to pick him up. After dinner David plays with him and he laughs for the only time today- of course he laughs with David, and then moments later cries when I try to play with him. I bathe him... more unusual fussing... I put on his pj's... lots of screaming... then I feed him again... FOR AN ENTIRE HOUR! Finally, I tell him that he cannot eat anymore, and David takes him to bed. He cries out one loud cry as the door closes, and then falls asleep. Whew! What a day!

So David and I sit here tonight thinking on this crazy day and praying for a better day tomorrow.

Mozart in the Making

One of our dear friends here gave Elijah a really wonderful gift- a piano that you you can kick to play. At first, Elijah didn't quite put the kicking and the piano playing together, but as you'll see in this cute clip, he has definitely mastered that amazing skill now!

Elijah's First WAR EAGLE!

David recently learned of a website that we can use to watch college football in realtime or in replay. So one Saturday during lunch we decided to watch a few minutes of Clemson vs. Georgia Tech just for fun. Elijah seemed quite interested in what we were watching so we let him join us. I think he may have ended up a little confused with the various teams and battle cries, but nevertheless he enjoyed the show! WAR EAGLE!

loving those around us...

When we first arrived in China, we were a little concerned about how Elijah might respond to Chinese people. While we were in the States he rarely saw an Asian person, and we thought he might be shy and even a little afraid. We were so thankful to see that not only does Elijah not fear the Chinese people, he actually really loves them.


Just last week, we went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, and while we were eating someone asked if they could look at Elijah. I told her that I would love for her to look at him, and she could even hold him if she liked. She was so excited and proceded to carry him all around the restaurant showing him of as if he were her very own. People started pulling out their cell phones and taking pictures and video of Elijah with this random lady. It was hilarious! Eventually, the lady did return our sweet son, and he was just as happy as could be at his sudden fame.


We had some friends over for dinner this week, and while I was finishing dinner preparations, the wife and daughter played with Elijah. He just loved them!


I know there will come a day when he gets tired of having his picture taken, his cheek pinched, and people in his face, but until then, we will just let him soak it all up.

Found Myself in the Mirror

When we went in to get Elijah up from his naptime, this is what we saw. It makes me realize that I really do not know how much he actually sleeps and how much of his naptimes are just spent playing. He is a funny little man.

Playtime on the Playmat!

Elijah loves to lay on his little playmat and bat at the things hanging above. Just recently he has learned how to pull some of the toys off the bar which really impressed us. In this video clip, he is just hanging on to his "leaves" as David calls them (they are actually butterflies). This is his favorite thing to pull off as it hangs a little lower than the rest. He loves this play gym so much that when we head to Taiwan at the end of this month, we are planning to look for an even larger one for him to play with.

Elijah is 4 Months Old!

Weighing in at 13 pounds 3 ounces, Elijah just turned 4 months old, and it seems like he just gets cuter with each day. In celebration of his reaching 4 months, we watched the video David took of the birth of Elijah. What a day that was! I marveled once again at the grace of God in giving us such a perfect son.

Just last week we made a comment that Elijah doesn't seem to be even trying to roll over yet, but that we knew it would come soon. Well, in celebration of his turning 4 months, Elijah decided to roll over. Unfortunately, we did not capture that momentous occasion on the Flip, but I did get some cute footage today of his "rolling". This clip is of him trying to roll.

And one of him actually rolling!

Bumbo Seat Playtime!

After much debate over whether he needed it (as if he actually needed half of the things we have bought for him), we ordered a Bumbo seat for Elijah, and a friend of ours brought it over for us. He is holding his head up so well so we decided to let him try the seat out. He is still a little small for it, but he seemed to do well just the same. Elijah has just started really noticing toys and wanting to reach for them so we put his giraffe on the tray for him to play with. We were so excited to see him trying to grab at the toy!

Dinner Guests

Our friends Chocolate and Maggie loving on Baby E.

New Schedule

Let me start by saying that I realize that all babies are very different, and that all babies have things they do very well, and things they are quirky about. One thing that Elijah has always done well with is schedules. From day 4 or 5 of his life in this world, he has been eating, playing, and sleeping on the schedule that we have desired for him. We are pretty avid "babywisers" (meaning we have read and follow the Baby Wise method of parenting), and this has worked really well for Elijah. He has always taken good naps, eaten fairly well, and had good wake times playing, reading, and singing.

This past week we decided to move Elijah from a 3-hour feed, wake, sleep schedule to a 4-hour schedule. We were worried that he may not do well with it since that meant he would be dropping from 5 feedings a day to 4 feedings a day, but as ususal, he adapted without so much as the smallest complaint. We are so thankful for the ease with which he adapts to things like this, and the blessing that is to us. Another great blessing is that Elijah has finally "weaned" himself from his swaddler and now just sleeps in his halo which is a like a little zip-up blanket for babies. So sweet!

Elijah's Daily Schedule- 4 Months Old

7:30- wake up, change diaper and eat

8:00- watch mom and dad eat breakfast

8:30- get dressed and read the Jesus Storybook Bible with mom and dad

9:00- sing with Praise Baby

between 9:00 and 9:30- go down for a nap

11:30- wake up, change diaper and eat

12:00- watch mom (and maybe another friend) eat lunch

12:30- exercise time and learning time

1:00- reading time

1:30- go down for a nap

3:30- wake up, change diaper and eat

4:00- take a walk, watch mom prepare dinner, play on playmat or in swing

5:00- play with dad

5:30- watch mom and dad eat dinner

6:00- take a little cat nap before bathtime

7:00- bathtime! This is Elijah's favorite time of the day!

7:30- eat

8:00- sing a goodnight song, pray together and go to bed

Whew! What a day!

30 Day Shred!

Today I started something called the "30 Day Shred" by Jillian Michaels. She is one of the trainers for The Biggest Loser show, and she has proven to give those on the show quite a workout. When I was pregnant with Elijah I gained a whopping 53 pounds, mostly from chicken fingers and Mexican food! After I delivered Elijah I knew it would take a while to get the weight off so I tried to be patient. Many people told me that breastfeeding will help you shed the pounds, though for me it really didn't. I kind of just thought if I kept waiting it out the weight would just come off on it's own. Turns out I was wrong.

Since I have been back in China, I have been faced with my extra pounds daily. You see in China people are extremely direct about things like how you look, the way you are doing something, etc. Every single person (honestly, I'm not exaggerating) that I've seen since I've been back that knew me before we left for the States has pronounced to me, "Ni zhang pang le" which means litterally, "You've gotten fatter"- just what you want to hear when you first see someone after 8 months! Elijah is almost 4 months old, and I still have about 12 pounds to lose to get to my pre-pregnancy weight. Thus, the 30 Day Shred. I have high hopes that at the end of the 30 days I will be fit, trim, and back in my size 4's. After all, Jillian promises that if I work out with her for 20 minutes each day for 30 days that I will look just like the girls leading the workout in the video. You think?

Sweet Friends

Elijah had his first social visit today when his new friend Roman came over to play. Roman is just a few weeks older than Elijah and lives just across the street. They had a great time looking at each other and "talking" to each other. We are so thankful for this sweet friend for Elijah and hope that they grow to be great encouragers and sharpeners of one another.

Praise baby!

In the mornings I like to do "singing time" with Elijah. I usually choose a Praise Baby cd to play, and then I lay on the floor with him or hold him in my lap and sing to him. One day I put the cd in, and it turned out to be a dvd instead. Elijah immediately began watching the shapes, colors, and babies intently while listening to the music. I was shocked to see how much he enjoyed the video at such a young age. This evening, while I was preparing dinner, we let Elijah watch a few minutes of the video just for fun. David thought it was so cute how Elijah just sat so calmly staring up at the TV. He said all Elijah needed was a Coke and some popcorn!

Sweet Elijah

Daddy's Little All Star

I have always had this idea that I wanted Elijah to be a well-rounded person. For me this meant that I did not want him to be a sports junkee but rather to enjoy lots of activities including cooking, hiking, biking, etc. So I took this to kind of an extreme and decided I would not let him wear anything that had any sports logos on it or resembled anything of any sport at all- silly I know! But then someone gave us the cutest little sleeper outfit that looks just like a little baseball uniform.

The sleeper says "Daddy's Little All Star" and the logo on it says "Property of Mommy." I hesitated to let him wear it, but finally gave in. And I must say, Elijah certainly does make a handsome little baseball player. So I am over the whole anti-sports thing now. I do hope that Elijah will enjoy a variety of things in life, but I am happy for him to do whatever Father has created him for. So here's to my little baseball player. You are definitely our little All Star!

Laughing out loud!

Elijah has started laughing- I mean really laughing out loud. We were getting him ready to take a bath (which he just loves!) and David was talking to him about his "friends" (referring to the various animals on his crib mobile) and he just started laughing. It was so precious we just had to capture it on our Flip video to share.

hard habit to break...

When I went in get Elijah up from his afternoon nap for his feeding I saw a sight that I have been dreading for quite some time (actually I was hopeful to never see this sight). Elijah was lying there just as peaceful as could be with his thumb in his mouth! Being an avid thumbsucker until I was 10 years old, I know that thumb sucking can bring lots of unpleasant things including sicknesses and crooked teeth. David and I have been watching Elijah carefully since he was born to make sure his hands stay out of his mouth, but nevertheless the seemingly inevitable has happened. We will certainly try the usual remedies: tobasco sauce, mittens, etc. But if Elijah is anything like his mom, we have a long, hard, stubborn road ahead of us. Any suggestions???

Elijah is three months old!

Elijah has just turned three months old, and we fall more and more in love with him everyday. He has made lots of new friends here, and has become the star of our hc on Sunday. He continues to grow bigger and taller and does lots of new things all of the time. He loves to stand up (with our support of course), loves to laugh, loves to sit and read books with mom and dad, and loves to stare at Chinese people. He loathes to have to take a nap in his stroller which used to be an alltime favorite. He is very active and loves to be on the move and constantly entertained (sometimes we have to make him practice his independence though). He has almost outgrown all of his 3 month clothes and is about to graduate to 6 month clothes! He loves to "talk", and I'm sure that the other day I heard him call out "Mama" to me. How sweet. We love out little papoose!

Touchdown China! - Elijah in his new crib

We arrived back at our home in China about a week ago, and we have had many adventures already. Elijah has been quite the trooper as he has adapted to a new time zone, a new language, a new culture, a new home, and even a new bed. All of our Chinese friends and neighbors say that he is such a content baby. Well, I guess they just haven't seen him during his fussy time of the day! But when he is in his crib staring up at his mobile (thanks Nana and Papa!) he is just as content as he can be- so content in fact, that at just 12 weeks old Elijah is already sleeping 11 hours. What a blessing!

Elijah is two months old!

Elijah is growing so much everyday, and we fall more and more in love with him. Weighing 10lbs 6oz, laying 23.25" long, he continues to be such a joy in our lives. He has reached two months of age and has quite the array of new talents:

Elijah has learned how to smile in response to our smiles and when he is happy. And, as you can see in this precious picture, he has even learned how to laugh!

Elijah loves laying on his little playmat looking at the fun things hanging above. Gigi just brought him a new lion that plays a song, and he just loves it!

Most amazing of all is Elijah's new talent of praying. Every night we pray as a family together before we put Elijah to bed. This night, when we finished praying he was laying there with his eyes closed and his hands folded as if he were in deep converstation with the Almighty. It was so sweet.

All Those Women!

This past weekend we visited with Papa's family to celebrate Father's Day. As expected, Elijah was the most handsome man at the gathering, and all the ladies decided to gather around for a priceless photo. Notice that Elijah is not so happy about having to take the picture!

Which Family Member Does Baby E Most Favor?

When babies first arrive everyone immediately begins trying to figure out who the baby looks like, and when Elijah arrived he was no exception. Everyone talked about whose lips he had (Erica's) or whose eyes he had (Matt's) or whose hands he had (Daddy's). Everyone wanted at least a little piece of Elijah to favor them. So we wanted to get your opinion on the matter and settle it once and for all. You can lock in your vote by using the poll on the left. Enjoy! (P.S.- You can click on the picture to enlarge it.)

What's in a name?

Since Elijah has been born, we have used a plethera of little anecdotes while talking to our precious son. Among those we use most often are "munchkin", "babycakes", "sweetheart", "sugarpie", "little man", "buddy", "sweet boy", and "little papoose". No matter the name, the meaning is the same- perfect grace gift from God. We love you Baby Lijah!

Elijah Meets Granny and Grandpa Melton!

On our way to visit Gigi and Pops we stopped by Granny and Grandpa Melton's house to have lunch with them and introduce Elijah to them. We had a huge feast of fresh vegetables straight from the Melton's garden- delicious! Granny and Grandpa just loved Elijah!

Four Generations of Patricks

David, MawMaw, Elijah, and Pops

Pops and Baby E lounging in the shade!

Maw Maw loves Baby E!

Elijah's First Beach Trip!

We recently took Elijah to the beach for the weekend in Gulf Shores, Alabama where we stayed in a beautiful condominium at Caribe Resort (thanks Mr. and Mrs. DiMartino!). He had a great time dangling his feet in the baby pool and basking in the sun. We talked about how much fun it will be when he is a little older and can play with us in the big pool, and David said specifically how he couldn't wait to toss Elijah into the air and watch him make a big splash. Until then...