I believe my precious baby is a thumb sucker. As you can see, his paci is laying to the side of him while he sucks away on that thumb. Its cute now but not so sure how cute it will be when is he 4! LOL Eli in his camo before leaving for school

Eli wore his Alabama outfit to school Monday morning. I guess our house is a house divided. The girls are Auburn fans and the guys are Alabama fans. I must say, Eli does look cute in his outfit....what am I saying, you could put him in a paper bag and he would still be adorable!

Looks like NatNat is teaching Eli to text at an early age :)

Weekend Update

We didnt do much on Friday. We ate at Bradley's mom's. Saturday morning I cleaned the house and Bradley made a trip to the dump. We had my family over for a fish fry Saturday night. Bradley had went fishing the weekend before and caught about 40 something crappie and earlier that week had caught several bass. We fried a lot of fish and needless to say there wasnt much left. My brother made a strawberry cake and it was really good to. I have a wonderful family and really enjoy the time we can spend together. Of course, Natalie is way too cool to hang with the family anymore. She used to always want to do whatever we were doing with the family and would get mad if we did something and she wasnt there but that has changed.

HANGING OUT AROUND THE HOUSE

Eli really looks like Bradley after Bradley cut his hair. It is obvious, he has my nose though!
Natalie wanted to make brownies so she could lick the batter

Eli loves bath time at night. He talks and laughs the whole time I am bathing him.

UPDATE

We had a pretty nice Valentines weekend. Friday was a nice night at home with everyone. Natalie was grounded so she wasnt able to go to any friends house. Saturday morning Bradley went fishing in Guntersville with a friend and Me, Nat and Eli went and met my mom and dad, Adam, Crystal and Henley at Crackle Barrel for a Valentines breakfast and my mom's birthday. It was really good! After breakfast we took Natalie to Dick's for a new pair of tennis shoes. That was the most expensive Valentines gift I have ever bought. We made a trip to the thrift store in Jasper for some new t-shirts. Bradley got in about 4:00 with about 40 something fish to clean. I cant wait to fry the crappie sometime this week. YUMMY!! Since Natalie was grounded from friends she went and spent the night with her Mimi. Me and Bradley fixed steaks and enjoyed time at home. We have all been battling a head cold and Bradley had a touch of a stomach bug that hit him late Saturday night and all day Sunday. Since Eli sounded all croupy and had a runny nose, we stayed at home from church. After lunch we had cake and ice cream at my grandparents house for my mom's birthday. Crystal made the cake and it was really good. Natalie has pitching lessons at 5:00 in Irondale and tonight she has gone to the movies with some friends.

Eli made it through his first week of daycare. It went well. There was a few things I wasnt too happy with but nothing real big. I have to realize that people arent going to take care of him the way I would. Not that they do a bad job, just dont do things like I would. I would never let him take a bottle without something under his neck to catch the excess milk.... well his teachers at daycare doesnt find that an issue. They have a bib on him, but the milk still runs down his neck and on his clothes and then he stinks. Not a hug deal but something I would like to say something to them about. That is probably the main complaint I have. Everyone there thinks he is absolutely adorable and they love the way I dress him. How could you not think he is the cutest baby every!!!

Hope everyone has a great week and now that I have everything I need to upload pics, hopefully I can keep this thing updated for everyone to enjoy!

Eli's Nursery

Eli's nursery is done in baby farm animals. His bed we purchased at Target and his furniture has been in my family for a while. It belonged to my uncle when he was young, it was in my room when I was a baby, my brothers room when he was a baby until he moved out to college. My mom painted it and it looks great. I was really happy with how his room turned out. It is really cute.

NATALIE PAIGE LAMBERT

This was Christmas morning. Natalie was so excited about getting a laptop, she was up at like 5:00 a.m. I told her we were not getting up until the sun come up.... so we were up at 6:00 a.m. YOu would think she was a little kid. Natalie always gets up early for Santa Clause.


This is one of Nat's favorite pics. I am still not sure why all the teenagers are into taking pics like this??? You should see me try to strike this pose.

Cute pic of the kiddos before Eli's bath. I dont think Natalie realized she didnt have any pants on. LOL!

ELI PATTON DUKE

Eli before going to daycare last week. He seems to be adjusting well to going. He is definitely the cuties baby there and always the best dressed.

This is a another pic of her him before going to daycare.

Eli really enjoys his thumb. He will take a paci a little but he also luvs to get his thumb in his mouth. I have told anyone how cute he is????

This is after we got home from baby dedication. I had to get a pic of him in his adorable outfit. Me and mom found this $55 outfit 50% off. Its an 0-3 months so this was the only time he got to wear it.

This is an older pic of him. I can tell that because it was before we were strapping him in the swing. Just adorable. Check out those fee.

CHRISTMAS IN FEBRUARY

I know its way past Christmas but I have just now been able to upload my pics from my camera... Ok, its not my camera, my got lost dont know how so I have borrowed Crystals until I can hopefully get me one.

Yes Santa came to see Eli too. As you can see he wasnt real excited about it. All his Santa gifts are still in the box. He is just now getting to the age to be able to play with some of them.

Natalie trying on her American Eagle jacket Santa brought her. Yes, in my house if you dont believe you dont receive!!! He He He.... Natalie of course does not believe but she has to act as if she does if she wants to get anything.

Even though Natalie doesnt believe in Santa, she still wants her things left under the tree after she goes to bed. I like it that way too. Mom mom still put things under the tree for me and my brother after we went to bed when we were in high school. I guess you can say we are traditionalist. This is what Santa left Nat. She got everything she asked for and more!

This was Eli's santa gifts too. He didnt have a clue what was going on. I luv putting out Santa gifts. I even put Bradley's out under the tree like it came from santa clause.

Its a tradition for me to take a pick of our Christmas tree after Santa has come.

Almost Friday

Its 9:00 Thursday night and I cant wait till Friday. I plan on doing some blog updates as to how our first week of daycare went, Natalie's one day suspension from school and what we did over the weekend. I just hope we dont have a sick baby. Eli had a runny nose today and none of us are feeling very well. I will make sure I have some pics to post too.

Not a Little Girl Anymore!

Just thought I would post these too pics of Natalie. The first one is one Nat took of herself just the other day. The other is of her and a friend from elementary school. I would have to say they were probably in the 1st of 2nd grade. She spent the night at this little girl's house and decided to dress up in her brother's clothes. Its hard to believe she is almost 15. She is always posing for pics. She will get dressed up at night with her hair and makeup fixed just to take pictures and then go to school the next morning in a t-shirt, sweatpants and her hair in a pony tail! Time sure does fly by! I will update you later tonight on Eli's first couple of days at daycare.. hopefully with some updated pics of him as well. I just dont have the time to take pics like I would like.

Eli's Drop Off At Daycare

Eli's drop off at his first time at daycare went fine. To my surprise (I probably should have asked) the daycare didn't open until 7:30. We arrived in the parking lot at 7:09. My idea was to drop him off and then take Natalie to school. Eli's daycare is on 78 Hwy right before you get to the Walmart in Sumiton and Natalie goes to school at Corner. I had the drive all planned out. Well by 7:15 when no one had arrived at the daycare, I went ahead and took Natalie to school and came back to drop E off. This time thing is really going to put a kink in our morning commute, because Natalie doesnt like to be dropped off any earlier than 7:45!!! You know she is a freshman and it is not cool to have to wait in the gym until school starts! LOL! I guess I will have to continue dropping her off first (she will have to get there a little earlier than 7:45) and then take Eli to the Ivy League. Hopefully that will allow me to be on the road heading to Birmingham by 8:00. Okay at least that is my plans and if you know Natalie, this getting up earlier than usual and making sure we leave on time will not last for long. Natalie has been getting up at 6:30 - 6:45 and we try to leave for school by 7:30 but hear lately it has been 7:45, arriving at school at 7:50-7:55 which means she is late pretty much everyday. She did really good last night and got all her stuff together for school. She usually waits until we are trying to run out the door at 7:45 to try and get together her books, practice clothes, her purse (which weights 50 lbs) and her bat bag for practice during 4th block and/or right after school. I did really good too and had Eli's bag packed and ready to go. I really hope we can continue this routine, if not, I want get getting to work until 9:00 and oh yea, they told me this morning as well that they like the babies to be picked up at 5:00. They don't close until 6:00 but the baby teacher leaves at 5:00 and they don't like to mix the babies with the big kids. Okay, so let me get this straight, cant drop him off until 7:30 and I have to pick him up by 5:00. I really would like to have the job of that parent that can work those hours out with their boss!! Well, most people that know me would have to say that I probably have that boss! Eli was happy when I dropped him off. Ms. Mary put him in a bouncy seat and he was kicking and laughing. I think he will like being there with all the other babies. There are only 4 babies in his room and they are all boys. Well, better go for now. I will post this afternoon on how his day actually went.

Little E Starts Daycare :(

Well I just finished getting Eli's things together for his first day at daycare. He will start the Ivy League tomorrow. I am very said about this. I know he will be in good hands but I just feel really bad that he has to go to daycare and Natalie never had to, but times change and we have no other choice..(Aunt Crystal, sure do wish you were still a stay at home mom so you could be a stay at home aunt too!!!) Well if you know me at all, you know I have to make sure everything is perfect. He had to have a bag with his name monogrammed on it, all his outfits have to have matching bibs and of courseI had to make sure things were labeled. Or as Natalie would say, "mom has to put her label on everything." When Natalie was little I used to put her initials and name on everything, including every pencil in the pack. LOL! I would explain the story behind putting her name on everything but it would take too long. Well I will probably cry when I drop him off, I can just feel it. No one will love on him all day like we do!!! I am sure it will be a short day at work! LOL! I will make sure I take some pics of his first day and give everyone an update tomorrow on how his day went. I am heading to bed now, my morning will be rather hectic tomorrow getting me, a baby and making sure my teenager is getting ready for work, daycare & school.

Eli's Baby Dedication

On January 25th we had baby dedication at church for Eli and a number of other babies. Crystal took the pics but they are definitely not the best in the world, not because of the photographer but because of the crowd and where we were located and a pic never turns out good when the person you are taking one of is not really paying any attention. LOL! Of course, we thought Eli was the cutest baby up there. His outfit was just adorable (probably will only wear it that one time, we bought it on sale and it just fit him). Natalie was up there with us however she was extremely nervous being up in front of the big crowd so she hid behind me and Bradley. (you can sort of see her face behind me in one of the pics). The funny thing is she didn't have to do anything but stand there. No one had to say anything, no one called out her name, no one put her pic up on the big screen or anything like that. She started getting nervous when we were in the back room waiting and the lady said "okay lets line up, its time." She is so funny! After church dad treated the whole family to Chili's! Thanks Dad!