Your First Thanksgiving and Some Other Stuff

Dear Eli,

Tomorrow you will be 8 months old. Can you believe it? I know I can't. Your daddy and I were talking about that on the way to work this morning. About how, when you were born, we thought you'd be little forever, and how by Christmas, you'd be crawling and getting into everything... but that would be 8 long months from your birthday! Well... those months actually weren't too long, and here we are. And yes, you are crawling everywhere, and yes, you are into everything.

So let's talk about Thanksgiving, shall we?  This year, we went to your Grandmommy and Poppa's house. They just finished the addition onto the back, so there was lots of room. You were very excited to eat! You had a bib on that said "Baby's First Thanksgiving," and you were SO cute. However...

We ate kind of late this year. Maybe 5:00 or so? By that time, you were tired, so you ended up sleeping through most of dinner. I held you and you slept on my chest while I ate. It was actually pretty great :) By the end of the meal, you had woken up, and you managed to eat quite a bit of sweet potato souflee (I don't know how to put the fancy accent mark in there, so you'll just have to imagine it) and dressing. Oh, and ham. You LOVE ham.

So we ate, we hung out, you played with your cousins, it was a good time! Eventually, though, you got tired and cranky, and it was time to leave.

It was good. A wonderful Thanksgiving with lots to be thankful for.

Let me tell you this, though-- because your daddy and I had all week off, you did NOT want us to go back to work. That next Monday when I dropped you off, you clung to my sweatshirt and cried. You had never done that before, and my heart broke into a million peices.

You've gotten back into the routine, though, so that's good. However, it's going to get jacked up again after Christmas break. That's ok with me, though, because that means that I get to spend two weeks with you at home! I can't wait :)

Random switching of gears... We took you to your first basketball game last Friday! You had a great time. You crawled all over the floor (not the court, mind you), you watched the game, and you played. It was so cute! Here are a few pictures:

How cute are you?! We went out to eat before the game, and boy was it a mess. You woke up crying in the diner, clonked your head on the table, screamed some more, and stuck your hand in my plate of pancakes before I could get the bottle in your mouth. Awesome. I ended up having to change your clothes... which you did NOT like. It all worked out for the best, though, because you were clean by the time we left, and everyone wanted to hold you.

Ok, I have to go teach a class now, but I wanted to write to you while I had a minute. I love you to the moon and back, Eli James!

Love,

Mommy