His Firsts

As first time parents, we are proud witnesses of Elliott's firsts-cheering him on and documenting the occasions. He has two enthusiastic cheerleaders for every roll, bite, and sleepful night. Every new first is met with the same amount (or more!) of awe, wonder, and excitement. It never gets old watching our little one get older. 

Already this month we welcomed a first tooth, first swim class, first Father's Day, and first camping trip. Mama was there -usually behind the camera- for each event having the time of my life. 

Since I always thought my drooly, ear tugging babe has been teething, his first tooth showed up one day without us even noticing. I don't think the rest will be that sneaky and silent. So, here's to praying for some patience while the rest break through. I think Elliott will be quite adorable with a toothy grin!

elliott's bottom tooth

Swim class was something I thought important to introduce to Elliott as young as possible. Luckily, he has loved the water since day one. Most of our activities ended for summer break, so I signed up for swim to give us something to do together to fill up our early summer days. Class was early, like had-to-wake-up-my-baby early, something that doesn't always make for the happiest, easy going days. But Elliott is a water baby. As soon as we got there, he kicked all around. And as soon as we left, someone took a couple 3 hour naps to fill the rest of our day! He learned to blow bubbles, go under water, "jump" off the side of the pool, and back float. Thankfully, we have a beautiful pool in our complex to keep practicing the rest of the summer.

Zack's first Father's Day was a success. He got a gift a day early--something to wear for family photos we took on Saturday. Then, Sunday we went to Tent Rocks and did a couple short little hikes and had a picnic. It is beautiful there! We spent a good portion of our hikes talking about how much we love Albuquerque and have immensely enjoyed our time here. Our time is almost up, so we hope to have more time here in the future. Elliott and Daddy got Lego sets to play together on Father's Day. Someone just chomped on his with his new tooth, and someone else built a helicopter. 

zack flew through this canyon earlier in the week!

We took our first family camping trip in the Jemez Mountains this week. I agreed to a one-night-with-a-baby-trial-run. We learned a lot to be more successful for a longer trip next time. Elliott loved camping so long as we let him play in the dirt by himself. Luckily he wasn't interested in eating it, but he did like to sit by himself in a pile of dirt, pine needles, sticks, moss, and rocks. We took a hike and enjoyed scouting the area out. I think this is the first of many camping trips for some quality father-son time.

helping set up camp

hey, i like the tent

checking out the view

Loving family time and all of my babe's firsts!

A Father First

From the first look...

to the first embrace...

the first snuggly naps...

and the first all-night screams.

Then there were more fun things...

first hikes

first swims

and first trips.

To a special daddy on his first Father's Day!

Thank you for being an incredible father and husband, Zachariah. 

Where does time go?

Elliott turned 6 months a little over a week ago. Half a year already? Crazy.

The last 6 months have been incredible. Becoming Elliott's mama has been a dream come true. It has fulfilled me, brought me abundant joy, and completes each and every one of my days. Our little family is full of smiles, giggles, and an enormous amount of love. Even when the little stinker is being difficult...there is nothing I love more than taking care of him. And I am so blessed to spend all my time with my little man. 

Elliott at 6 months you...

-sit so well! even the doctor was amazed that you could sit all by yourself for over a half an hour during your 6 month appointment. at home you can sit by yourself for more than an hour. you love to sit on the floor with all your toys, and you entertain yourself very well (lucky for mama!). you even sit in the shopping cart, high chair, and big bathtub like a big boy!-

-love the pool. you kick, kick, kick and splash all around. bath time is your favorite part of the day, my little water baby-

-talk and screech all day long unless we're around other people. you seem to be shy about talking in front of everyone, but you have no problem flirting!-

-are kind of a picky eater. you still only really like sweet potato, but we're working on more variety of foods. you love your sippy cup even though you've never gotten a drop out of it. overall, you still prefer nursing-

-are getting pretty smart. you know our cell phone cases aren't our cell phones and you know which remote actually works the tv. there is no fooling you. you want everything we have and you want it in your mouth!-

-try really hard to move around. you rollover a lot, spend more time on your tummy, and are going to be crawling before we know it!-

-get really giggly at bedtime. every night daddy reads you a story and you get ridiculously, deliriously giggly-

-are learning to hold your arms up when you want to be held-

-sleep, sleep, sleep! :) since you turned 6 months you have dropped your one feeding during the night and now sleep a minimum of 12 hours every night and still take naps all throughout the day! boy, are you cranksters if you don't get all that sleep. i already thought i was lucky...but now i'm super lucky!!-

-love your reflection and pictures of yourself. really, who can blame you? it's one handsome baby looking back!-

-love your mama and daddy. it's very apparent and it makes my heart melt. you give us open mouth kisses...they're wet and wonderful-

I love you, bubba.