Alison's first sleep over

Samantha's mom had her baby Sunday! We are very excited for their family and are looking forward to meeting Isaac tomorrow. The afternoon Stacy went into labor, they couldn't get a hold of the families that were suppose to take the kids, so they quickly dropped them off at our house. It was a chaotic, but fun afternoon with 5 kids in our house. Samantha ended up staying here that night and the girls were able to have a slumber party. Samantha's used to sharing a room with her sister and crashed right away. Alison on the other hand couldn't stop talking to her, even when she was asleep.

Quiet time

Alison singing Holy, Holy, Holy-her current favorite song . Every afternoon we have "quiet time". My desire for Alison is that she doesn't remember a day that she didn't spend with the Lord. As adults it's easy to get distracted and not prioritize time for the Lord. But my prayer is that if she grows up with that quiet time as a priority, then it will be easy as an adult to have it in her daily routine. It also helps me to make it a priority in my own life. I can't tell her how important it is to spend time learning about Jesus and then go and clean the kitchen (like I often feel like I should instead). We read a couple of bible stories, sing some songs and then she listens to bible stories on the ipod on her own. She became fascinated with the story of Abraham and that's what we've read and she's listened to, over and over, for over a month now. Today she asked if she could read the story to me. It took her about 10 minutes to narrate it, but I was impressed at her little memory. The video is more for me, sorry, but I think I'm the only one that will be able to understand her mumbles.

My 2 Jayhawks

A little clarification

There seems to be a lot of confusion over Eliot's name...just like I knew there would be. To clear up some of the confusion: his name is Eliot. Yes, I call him Eli, but I'm his mom and I can call him whatever I want. You can call him Eli or Eliot. If your just don't know which one to choose, pick Eliot. If you don't like either option, you can call Ben to file a complaint.

Alison's new hair cut

Playing with Samantha (Alison calls her Amanfa)

It took me awhile, but I finally convinced Ben to let me cut Alison's hair. I've trimmed it several times before, but this was the first time that I cut several inches off. I told Ben that every girl needs a summer hair cut, especially little girls who don't like to leave pony tails in for longer than an hour and clippies are constantly falling out. When Alison heard me tell him that, she asked where summer was. I told her it was already here and she went to look out the window to see if it was at the front door.

Loads of fun!

Tim, Abby and Alexandria were here again this weekend. They officially move to Elizabeth City tomorrow and stayed here while their belongings were in transit. It was fun to see the kids "play" together. Eliot was just in awe of everything, Alexandria wanted to chew on everyone's feet and Alison wanted the other kids to tackle her.



This afternoon we went to the park with some families from church. While I spent most of the time in the car nursing Eliot, Ben got the pleasure of playing with Alison and Samantha. There is nothing sweeter to me than watching my husband play with our daughter-it's simply the best.

1 Month

My little monkey is growing like a weed. He had his 1 month check up yesterday and is now 8lbs, 11oz and is 21 inches long...he's gained over a pound in 2 weeks! The doctor said the "norm" at this stage is to gain a pound a month. He's growing much to fast for this momma!

Beth sent a wonderful gift to me this week and I've fallen in love with the Woombie and Moby Wrap. Eliot LOVES to be swaddled and he is the happiest camper the instant he is zipped up into this thing. Doesn't he look like a little glow worm?
I love that our kids hear music everyday and that they'll have opportunities to play instruments I didn't even know existed-like the mountain dulcimer. Seriously, only Ben Shear can pick up a random instrument and just start playing. Hopefully Eliot and Alison got those genes.

Round 3!

Nana and Granddad are here for a few days to meet Eli. We're so thankful they were able to come!

Tomorrow is our first family-free day. I think Alison is going to be very confused why a Grandma, Mimi or Nana isn't here and is going to be bummed when it's just plain 0le' mom. We sure have enjoyed having so much family here to help-we've truly been spoiled.

Eli is growing much too fast. I don't like it one bit. Alison's been a rock star at being a big sister and I'm not ready for her to grow up either. I'm savoring these moments in life right now.

Eliot's Baptism

Eliot was baptized on Sunday, May 9th. Not only was it a very special day for our family, it was pretty special for Hope too. Eliot is the first baby to be welcomed into the church family and we are so excited to have them to help us raise our son.

Praying for Eliot

Presenting him to the congregation

Eliot's first trip to the beach

Well, I'm not sure Eli even noticed he was at the beach, but we had a blast taking him there. It was an extremely windy day, which made it very challenging to keep our umbrella up and to discretely nurse a baby. But other than that, it was a beautiful day to enjoy some sun.
Alison was more excited about walking in the sand and building castles this year. It was fun to watch her play and we all got a kick out of watching her try to play without getting dirty.
Madisyn, Rick and Ben built this massive sand castle. The castle didn't last long, but they were pretty proud of their work.

Being by the water is always relaxing to me and I look forward to sitting on the beach many more days this summer.

Round 2

Grandma left Saturday and Mimi and Aunt Madisyn came that evening. We're thankful they got here safely! Tennessee had severe flooding and they drove through 2 plus hours of torrential downpour. Rick came Monday and a hard time even getting to the airport because of all the closed roads. Surprising enough, even through the stressful travels, they came with bounds of energy, which is exactly what we needed!

Alison and Mimi all dressed up and dancing

Poppy meeting his first grandson