Grandparents

Between Jeff's mom and Bob (Granny T and Poppy) and my parents (grandparent names TBD), Eli has been showered with a lot of love and attention from his grandparents.  He is one lucky guy and is already spoiled rotten, although I have a feeling he hasn't even seen spoiled yet!  I still remember being spoiled by my grandparents when I was little (think being allowed to eat sugar cubes straight out of the sugar bowl . . . ). 

Granny T and Poppy live in town, and have stopped by for many visits and prepared us some delicious meals over the past couple weeks. My mom came to Fort Worth on Eli's birthday and stayed with us for 12 days (she might say she was held hostage!), taking care of meals, grocery shopping, household chores, and just generally helping me figure out how to care for a baby.  My dad also came to town on Eli's birthday, and then returned this past weekend to love on his grandson and take some wonderful newborn pictures.  Thanks so much!  Jeff and I have really enjoyed all the pampering.  

Eli has some pretty cool aunts and uncles too, and has loved every second he's spent with them so far.  Don't worry -- I'll be posting pics of all of you soon!  :) 

Granny T and Poppy

Mom changing a diaper.

Amazing breakfast prepared by mom.

Grandpa has the magic touch!

The Ladies' Man

Eli was quite the socialite this weekend!  He had many visits from potential future girlfriends, and he loved all of them!  Liz, Frank and Emery (10 months) came to play, and so did Abby, Peter and Lucy (7 weeks).  Liz, JK and Bailey (7 months) also stopped by, but we forgot to take pictures.  Good thing there will be plenty more photo ops in the future!  

Sorry girls, but I think [hope] that I will be his only girlfriend for at least a few more years! 

Kisses from Emery

  

Holding hands with Lucy

Just Plain Cute

We spend most of our time just looking at Eli, whether he's awake or asleep.  Most of the time he's asleep!  Here are some of my favorite sleeping pictures from the past week.  Don't you love those chubby cheeks?

So relaxed in dad's arms!

One Week Birthday

Eli turned one week old on Wednesday, August 25.  Hard to believe it's been a week!  Already a lover of sweets (just like his mom!), he celebrated with a mini blue cupcake his Granny T (Jeff's mom) brought him.  As you can see, he really loved it! 

Eli the Frog

He may be partial to horned frogs, but this kid likes frogs of all kinds!  Here he is after his first bath at home.  Daddy did a great job of getting him nice and clean!

Go Frogs!

Football season starts in one week, and no one is more excited than Eli Johnson.  He is really sad he has to miss the first game against Oregon State, but he's already demonstrating great school spirit!  He was born a TCU fan.

Eli's Nursery

As I said in my previous post, Jeff and I have spent a LOT of time in this room talking about Eli, talking to Eli, and waiting for him to bless us with his presence.  After all that waiting, it still feels pretty strange that he's finally here and sleeping in his crib!  On several occasions, I've completely forgotten that I now have a baby to care for.  Yesterday, when he started crying in the middle of the night, I turned down the volume on the monitor and then tried to snooze it like an alarm clock.  Jeff had to wake me up and remind me there was a hungry baby in the next room! 

Here are some pictures of the nursery.  Eli loves it so far!

Mom made this cute wreath with denim diapers.  We hung it on the door of our hospital room, and now it's on Eli's door.

View from the door.

Mom also made this toy bag to hang on the crib. 

Checking Out His New Crib!

We were really excited to bring Eli home and show him his house and his room.  We've spent so many hours in the nursery over the past few months imagining what it would be like to have a baby in there, reading books to him, and anxiously awaiting his arrival!  But more importantly, we could not wait to introduce Eli to his big brother Charlie!  Although Charlie was very confused at first, he's adapted well to having a baby in the house.  He loves him very much already and especially loves to lick him!  And any time Eli cries, Charlie always runs over to make sure all is okay -- such a sweet brother.

He looks pretty cute taking a nap in his crib!

Meeting Charlie for the first time.

Helping out with the first diaper change at home.

After all the excitement, Charlie needed a little extra attention.

More Pictures from the Hospital

We stayed at the hospital until Friday, August 20.  We had a lot of fun getting to know Eli and beginning to adapt to life with a child.  Eli had many visitors -- he is already so loved! 

Daddy Love

Check out those long fingers!

All dressed and ready to go home!

On our way home.  Are we ready for this? 

Eli's Birthday

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 was such a special day -- one we will never forget!  On this day, our lives were forever changed. 

Because Eli's due date was August 27, we were quite surprised to realize he had different plans, and wanted to make his debut 9 days early.  An obsessive planner, I wasn't sure how I felt about this -- after all, I still had a lengthy to-do list that needed to be tackled before Eli's arrival!  But looking back, we are so grateful he came early. 

On August 18, I woke up just after midnight and thought I was having contractions.  I kept thinking surely I was imagining things, so it wasn't until almost 3 a.m. that I woke up Jeff to let him know what was going on.  We waited it out at home for as long as possible, and pulled into the hospital just before 6 a.m.  After several hours of the most awful pain I've ever experienced, I got an epidural around 10 a.m.  The next 6 hours passed quickly -- the drugs worked wonders and I was able to relax and enjoy the day.  Then, before we knew it, he was here! 

Eli Bridges Johnson arrived at 4:26 p.m. on August 18, 2010.  He weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces, and measured 21.75 inches long. 

The entire experience was so surreal, and was much better than I expected it to be.  Jeff and I both experienced a full range of emotions that day, including many emotions we had never felt before.  We were walking on clouds, and one blissful week later, we still are! 

I apologize in advance for the excessive number of pictures, but we are very proud parents! 

Heading to the hospital.

Waiting on baby!  Not too much longer . . .

He's here!

Murphree family

Many, many more pictures to come!

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to our blog!  I've been saying that I would start a blog for months and months -- since we found out we were expecting our first little bundle of joy this August.  Ever the procrastinator, I'm finally getting around to it now that our little man is here.  I promise to update with pictures and stories as often as I can, so stay tuned!