The cutest EVER

So this is mom writing, and having a LOT of fun looking through pictures to post for your viewing pleasure. There have been so many priceless moments to share since Elijah has been with us, it's hard to choose which ones to talk about. I am SO in love with our son, it's hard to contain... especially now that he's sleeping through the night. (We hope it's not just a phase!)
One of my favorite moments with Elijah was during prayers one night. We prayed for grandparents, godparents, friends and relatives... and after each person that I named, Elijah would smile and say, "ooo." Then when I said Amen, he smiled and said, "mmm" and then I laid him to sleep in his crib, and he didn't say anything else and just went right to sleep. Already you can tell that his heart is the cutest EVER.

New things

Here are some new things we'd like to share with you. LOTS of handsome smiles! Elijah is an absolute joy to be around. He loves to smile for mommy and daddy. Especially when he wakes up in the morning!
We started him on a bedtime routine... it's really helped him sleep a lot better! We give him a bath, put on his jammies, feed him, rock him, sing a lullaby and say prayers. He falls asleep on his own in his crib now, and usually sleeps between 8-10 hours every night. He's incredible!!! Babies love routine! AND bathtime...

Daddy's real good at making him smile.

Our son sucks... his thumb. He isn't the greatest at keeping pacifiers in his mouth, so he resorts to his thumb when he can't find a pacifier. What can we say? He loves to suck. At first it would take quite awhile for him to find his thumb, but he's getting better at it now, which doesn't thrill mom all that much. (It's a hard habit to break, but we can't exactly stop him from finding his thumb when we're sleeping.) We've gone into his room in the mornings several times and find him just laying his his crib, content sucking his thumb after 10 hours of sleep. We love him! Maybe that's why we haven't blogged so much... we've been too busy catching up on sleep! And we're not gonna lie, it's awesome. Just like our kid.

WHAT?!

Mom turned 30 today?!Yes, Gail just turned 30. She finally caught up to Josh. :) Now she's thirty, flirty, and thriving!

Okay, seriously. We're sorry. It's been almost a month since we last posted a blog about our beautiful new son, Elijah. What can we say? We love spending time with him! We get super excited about all the new changes that are taking place in his life that we don't want to spend time on the computer... which means updating our blog. But we promise to be better about adding new Eli-goodness for you to enjoy. Don't lose heart!

Josh & Gail

Our son, the comedian.

Gail and I were sitting on the couch this rainy afternoon, just looking at our beautiful son. As we sat quietly together admiring this gift from God, I looked at him, then looked at her, and I said, "you know what? I love you." Gail held Elijah as we leaned closer to each other, and just as our lips met in celebration of this perfect moment... pthmmmmpppmmmppmmthmppmmmpth "aahhh". Elijah did what Mr. Justin calls the down town push down. In other words, he unloaded in his britches. Gail and I crack up laughing, and as if this wasn't enough, we look at our son and he was laughing, too! Hilarious, son. Hilarious.

Folks, that's just good family fun.

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isaih wrote:
Elijah-

Keep it up man, nice work. I like milk and yellow trucks. Try farting in the tub, that sounds awesome.

-Isaiah

DeAr IsssAih,

jmom andd dad dont LEt mE BLOg vry mch, but I snuk doown to the cmputr whilee they wass sleeeping. Mom and daddd sure likee to sleep. Theyy think ai should sleep[ like more than 8 hourfs a day. thedy r crazzzzzzzzy. i pooped through my daiperr, pj's, sheett, otherr sheeeet, and matrss pad today. It was thhe cooleSt.

-baby lijah

Oh, Iowa, here comes Elijah!

Elijah, mom, and dad, all took a trip down to Iowa to meet all of the relatives! It was Elijah's longest trip (5 hours) and he did really well, considering he usually HATES car rides! Fuller Still had an event at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Marion on Wednesday, and then the Brecht's had a fun-filled few days following. Here are a few photos!

Aunt Jennifer was whining because there was a picture of Uncle Justin holding Elijah, but none with Aunt Jennifer. Here you go. Well, I guess Cal is holding him, but that's the best picture we've got.

Here is Uncle Cal and Elijah hanging out.

Our good friends Kevin and Abbie drove to Central City from Des Moines to meet the little man. We had good times! Kevin and Grandma Diane enjoyed medical talk, while Abbie did most of the holding of Elijah.




Elijah's great grandparents all got to meet him, too! He was very excited to meet them, as you can see from the photos. He is the first great grandchild for the Freilinger side, so it was a big day for them. He is #10 on the Brecht side, but they were still delighted to meet him, too!

The First Smiles!!!

When Grandma Diane came up to visit she and Gail managed to coax his first smiles out!
It was great to see a few real smiles after weeks of many frowning confused looks.
The first attempt:

Umm... not quite a smile, but working hard to try!

And here's an adorable little smile!
What a great boy!