4 Months Old!

 4 months!

3 months

2 months

 1 month

 2 weeks old

Dear Elliot,

What a big boy you are! When we were out on a walk with your big brothers this morning, one of the neighbor ladies out walking her dog made a detour to come over and see you. "I've been hearing about this baby, and I just had to come over and take a look!" she said. So your rolls are gaining you some notoriety!

- You are a big. boy. We haven't had your check-up yet to figure out your current weight, but you are full of lovely rolls, and as Miss Cherie at the school says, "You are just SOLID."

- You have gotten very strong and active. You love to sit, balancing on my leg and bouncing a little, watching all that goes on around you.

- You are still quite happy to take in the surroundings, when your brothers are around. However, when it's just Mom and you, sometimes you're a little fussy, wondering where all the action and adventure went!

- During supper preparations, you are normally a very good companion from your swing in the kitchen hallway. It's a nice time to chat with you a little bit while I do my kitchen busy work.

- Even more than that, though, I love to pick you up and squeeze you and give you a hundred kisses on your soft cheeks and fuzz-haired head. You are so squeezable!

- When you are fed and rested, you are still normally happy to visit other folks, but if you're getting tired and hungry, you normally prefer to stick close to Mom. It makes the hope of mealtime a little more tangible, I think...

- You have been very sporadic in your bedtime sleeping. Sometimes (last night) you'll get me up three times a night. But sometimes you'll just do one feeding. At least the hope of a good night's sleep is lovely! During the day, you normally sleep until 7:30 or 8am, then take a morning nap at 9:30am or so. We'll go out and do something outside for the middle of the day most times, and then all the boys head down for afternoon naps around 1:30pm. Blessed time...

- You are very chatty sometimes, cooing and singing and letting us know all about your thoughts. I love it.

- You really go to town on your thumb and/or fingers. Most common seems to be a combo of thumb and first finger, but any of them will do (even your pinky... with the rest of your fingers kinda jabbing you in the eyes).

- You are strong enough to get out of your bundling now, and it's that rather stressful transition to figuring out how to sleep when your arms start flapping around...

- You haven't quite rolled over yet, but you get balanced up on your side, and I think it won't belong before you can tip right over.

- As evident in this month's blue chair photo, you can hold up your head quite high now. You are a strong boy!

I love to see you grow, although I don't want to rush away the days when I can still snuggle you in my arms as a little baby. We pray for you each day that God will indeed, as your name says, be your God and that you will give your whole heart and life to Him. The Elliots (Jim and Elisabeth) who are your namesake were such a testimony that nothing given to God is ever wasted, and no sacrifice of what could temporarily entertain, interest, or fascinate us is worth the enduring joy of knowing Christ.

It is our church's memory verse these past weeks:

 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.--Philippians 3:7-9

May you belong to Him all your days, sweet son!

With love and kisses,
Mom