3 months going on 1 year!

As I write this, Eli is napping in his crib, by himself for the first time ever. Maybe I'm behind the times, maybe I'm ahead.. I'm not really sure. But I felt like it was time to transition him to his crib and also start him on a daily napping schedule. To date Eli falls asleep when Eli wants to through out the day. In my arms, on the couch, in his beanbag, in the carseat, basically where ever is convenient and comfortable. There really isn't a problem with this other than that I get nothing done because I'm too busy staring at his precious little self <3 Seriously.. I can't get over how much I LOVE this baby! I also can't get over how quickly this little man of mine is growing up. Time has flown by and crawled at a snails pace all at the same time.

love these boys

New in the world of Mr. Eli this month:
>> Enjoys sitting in his bumbo
>> LOVES sucking his hands
>> Loves to blow bubbles
>> Has realized that his tongue is fun to play with
>> Has moved on into 6-9 month clothes (I'm pretty sure he never even wore half of his 3-6 month outfits)
>> Roles tummy to back all the time, and has done back to tummy once
>> He wants to chew on EVERYTHING... hands, clothes, toys, towels, pacifiers, etc
>> Attended is first college class/potluck
>> Loves to try to stand up when we are helping him
>> Is "talking" a ton, and on the verge of belly laughs!
>> Weighs 14 lbs 9.5 oz

It is amazing to see how quickly he changes and grows over night! I feel like every morning I wake up to a new baby. This whole being a Mom job, is by far my  favorite one, but it doesn't come without it's stressful moments, and overwhelming times. It is amazing how much stress our society puts on mothers these days. I was talking with friends about how you can't even leave your child in the car for 1 minute while you run to put a movie in Redbox otherwise child services or the police will be informed of your failure to "parent" properly.. We are constantly told that we are not doing something right whether it is the age we chose to move our babies from the bassinet to the crib or letting the baby sleep in the swing. I receive so much encouragement from other Mamas that are going through the same thing, and older people who I'm sure completely parented us wrong according to current standards (our parents made us sleep on our tummy or side? What were they thinking??). It is so important to not base how you are doing on society's standards. You don't have to eat organic vegetarian all the time to be healthy. You can actually go against the flow, and maybe your children will turn out fine just like all of us did. I think we focus on things that in the grand scheme are so minor, but forget to focus on what may have a huge affect in the future. How do we love our spouse, family or friends? How do we treat people when we disagree with them? Do we encourage or tear down people who are doing something "wrong"?

Sometimes I feel like I am SO different from everybody I go to school with, and it can feel exciting and strange at the same time.. I am one of 2 people married in a group of about 100 students I sit in class with. I am the ONLY one with a child,  and I have had people say "I would drop out of I was married and had a kid." However I am encouraged that Jesus didn't give up and quite because he was "different". He was the strange one because of what he said and did, how he loved people unconditionally, and trusted even when times were confusing and tough. Going to class and being a mom is HARD WORK! But trusting that God holds me, my future, and my family in his hands gives me strength and encouragement to keep pressing on.