Day with Eli...

Our kiddo has enough toys. Honestly, we don't have a ton of money to buy him even more for his birthday; we will leave that up to the grandparents :).

This year for Eli's birthday, we bought him the small keyboard from a few post back and a few clothes that were on clearance for the summer- nothing more. Instead, I asked Chris if he would give up a day of work to spend the whole day with Eli.

I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but Chris taking off a full day of work is a pretty big sacrifice on his part. Since he is clocked by "hours billed" not just hours worked, he doesn't have any kind of vacation or sick leave. No matter what, he still has to make up those billable hours.

I think it was a little hard for him to be really excited about it, especially since he knew that he would be taking off a lot this month because of the upcoming arrival of Sweet P, but I am sure I made him feel guilty enough that he obliged.

Honestly, I believe that the most important sacrifice we can make for our children is our time. Eli may not remember it this year, but year after year, he will remember his "special day" with us and forget about all of those toys. Maybe one day he will see how much easier it would have been for us to buy him more toys than to give him a whole day of our attention... I hope so.

Anyway, we celebrated Eli's birthday last Friday, with the whole day dedicated to him. As a special treat, we all slept in a little longer than normal and then Eli and daddy raced off for haircuts. Eli was really excited to go see Ms. Donna for his haircut- he loves to sit in the chair. Chris said that he was a champ! Seeing a very rare opportunity, I headed to the hospital to pre-register. Next we all headed to the Discovery Center.

I think Chris had more fun than Eli. It was adorable to watch them both so wide-eyed. :)

Here are just a few of the many, many pictures that I wanted to post...

Oh my goodness. He just melts my heart.

Such a big boy.

He had a blast making "smoke rings" with daddy...daddy had a blast too.

Eli also loved blowing the "big bu-bbles, yeah".

What do you think, engineer someday? I love the look of concentration on his face...

Of course, I wanted pictures of Eli with his daddy; it was a gorgeous January day. Chris tries to take pictures of Eli and I, but at 9 months pregnant, it takes a lot of convincing to get me on the other side of the camera.

If you are in the Amarillo area, take your kiddos to the Discovery Center- it is well worth the money. Chris even wants us to get an annual pass.

After we convinced Eli to leave the Discovery Center, we headed to Mr. Gatti's to eat lunch and play games. Eli didn't eat a single piece of pizza, but instead chose cheese bread sticks, fish crackers, more cheese and cookies...it might have been the most awful meal he has ever eaten, but hey, it was his day and I wasn't about to force him. He also got to watch cartoons while he ate. He still doesn't watch TV at home with me, so I think this was his favorite part of the entire day. He was mesmerized. Chris and I had a whole conversation and ate without a single interruption from Eli. It was like instant alone time. (However, as inticing as it is at times, he will still not be watching TV at home- sorry Memamaw. For those of you who don't know, my mother thinks that I am depriving my child because he doesn't get to watch TV.)

It was around 3:00 after we finished lunch and played games. We headed home for a nice, long family nap.

Eli didn't get up until around 5:00. Chris had to go to the rehearsal for the wedding we were shooting the next day, so Eli and I hung out for the rest of the evening together.

It really was a wonderful day and it made for a really nice, long weekend!