Grandpa and Grandma Pratt came to visit, which was a lot of fun. We went to Hermann Park with them. We like that park a lot; there's so much to do, and it's right by the zoo. Though Eli has been to the zoo several times, he got to go with his grandparents for the first time. He also got to ride the train with them and go on a pedal boat. Eli seemed so tranquil on the boat, staring at the water, but then maybe he was trying to understand why there was a big life jacket on him. :-)
My Uncles Ken and Don came for a visit at the end of April. They were nearby doing some birding and stopped to go to church with us on Sunday, which we enjoyed. Anyway, their birding trip sparked some interest in Josh, so when his parents were here, we decided to go to High Island and see the birds for ourselves. We went down to Galveston for the first time since Hurricane Ike, and then we took the ferry over to the Bolivar Peninsula. There was definitely a lot of devastation. It's amazing what nature can do! It certainly puts God's power in perspective. Anyway, while we were on the peninsula, we stopped at Fort Travis to take a look, and I wish we had our video camera rolling because it was probably one of the funniest things to see. All I can do is describe, which doesn't do it justice. There's a field by the fort that goes out to the gulf, and Josh wanted to head out that way. He had Eli in his arms, and his dad was walking a little behind him. My mother-in-law and I took up the rear. We were talking, and all of the sudden Josh started doing a little dance while swatting the air and himself. Eli was looking at his daddy like he was crazy. Josh started running toward us, and then his dad started running. Then I found out why. It was like a crazy, nightmare movie or something. The title would be: Attack of the Mosquitoes. Huge mosquitoes were swarming around us like I've never seen before. It was unbelievable! We ran to the car, and they followed us in. We tried to put repellant on us, but that didn't do much. In fact, we later ran into more mosquitoes on High Island while we were bird watching. It wasn't quite as bad there, but we cut our sight seeing short because of them. Still, the birds were beautiful, and we got to see alligators too. Josh's poor dad, though, ended up with quite a case of mosquito bites. The rest of us fared a little better, though Josh says he's still itching from them.
Mother's Day was a nice treat. Josh gave me some sleep, which I enjoyed and will enjoy (since I have a promise for more) immensely. He also cooked me some great meals for breakfast and dinner. What a great husband! I'm grateful to be his wife, and of course, I'm grateful to be a mommy to a wonderful little boy!
Lately I've been putting away some of the things that Eli has outgrown. He's graduating from baby to toddler quite rapidly. While it's exciting, some of it does make me a little sad. Anyone else experience this? I put up his jumper and floor gym, which I should have done months ago since he hasn't used them for quite a while. I put away his infant car seat. He just graduated to a forward facing car seat since he wasn't the required 20 pounds when he turned one. I think he likes it a lot better. I have some clothes I need to put away too that I just haven't done yet. He's down to one or two nursing sessions in a 24 hour period, which is remarkable for him given the night feedings that he likes. It's definitely bittersweet. On the one hand, I'll be glad to have that autonomy again. On the other hand, I'll miss my little baby who has depended on me so much.
Well, enough with the nostalgia; here are a few pictures. There were definitely more taken, but some of them were poor image quality, and then our camera ran out of memory, so we have to get the others from Josh's parents.
