Greetings to you, loved ones!

Jerry, Paul and I have had a fun and busy year. These are a few highlights in case you missed out!
January, February and the beginning of March were fairly uneventful and yet filled with much preparation for Paul’s arrival. Jerry’s parents came to visit for Paul’s birth and were able to stay about 2 weeks to also help take care of us, the new family. On March 16th at 11:58PM, Paul was born and life hasn’t slowed down since. In April, I celebrated my golden birthday and by May we all began to enjoy a marvelous Spring. June was filled with hustle and bustle of our friend and roommate Jessy getting married on the 20th. Then the next week my parents and little sister, Sarah, arrived to visit us and the rest of the family! In the midst of July, a year and a day after I called family with news about Paul’s approaching arrival, my sister, Liz, called us with the news of her own baby on the way (due March 13th, 2011)! August was a blur and September marked Paul’s half birthday! In October, Jerry surprised me by taking me to Texas Roadhouse on our 2nd anniversary, Oct. 11th. November - I was busy helping plan Liz’s baby shower. Sarah and my mom surprised Liz with their coming while Liz was on her layover at the Denver airport on the 18th, and the 20th was her shower. It was a nice little party, but still loads of fun! The next week we had something to do each day, including Tuesday, we celebrated Jerry’s birthday (it’s really on the 27th). And Wednesday and Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family and then Jerry’s family. And now with December upon us, our first Christmas as a family of three, it’s quick to see how much we’ve been blessed this year. We want to thank each of you for being a part of our lives and we look forward to our times together in the future,

With love,

Jerry, Rachael and Paul

Luke 2:9-11

And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

blog blog blog...

Blog... I need to blog. What does that mean to me?? It means... I need to talk about all the things going on in my head without sounding crazy. Okay, FIRST of all... how do my dishes manage to be washed, dried and put away, only to magically reappear disgusting and on the counter the next morning. SECOND... how does it happen that seemingly seconds after I vacuum, fuzzies and crumbs come out of no where. The ones that slip away from me that Paul finds and put in his mouth. Ugh. That's not even the half of it. My laundry won't even wash, dry, or put away itself. Why?!?! Oh well... it's all good.
Do you know what I like to do? Sing. Yup. It's true.
blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Yeah... this is all nothing. Not really what s really on my mind. I can't really find a way to tap into that and release the pressure.

Thanksgiving and Christmas time are here

Yes, it's that time of year. Snow is on the ground and the roads are always questionable. Greetings everyone! It's been a while since we've had a good update. Life has been super busy in the Eldred home. Jerry has been working extra long hard hours, I have been trying to get the house back into recognizable shape and Paul has been doing all sorts of fun things. His latest fasinations are clapping and saying Da-Da-Da. We've been trying to teach him sign language, and so he's also been exhibiting evidence of signing milk and help. Paul and mommy have also made a game of Momma-do, You-do. I put my hand over my mouth and say ah, and then momma does it to paul and he says ah! It's really great to see him interact in such ways. He is otherwise still growing very fast. And moving really fast! He'll go from 0 to 60 in about 3 seconds and before you know it he's in the other room, fasinated with the crumbs we somehow managed to miss. He's become well skilled in pulling himself up on things and has begun to risk standing alone! He stands by himself only when there is something sturdy right next to him. He's fallen quite a few times before while standing up so that now he's being careful. Smart kid. I'm still breastfeeding him but he's been getting more "people" food when we eat and he loves it and always asks for more.
We hope to pick out a tree soon. I only just strung up some lights in the living room to get us by until then. We had a good thanksgiving with everyone. Lots of yummy food and fun.
Thanks everyone. Hope to see you soon! More later!

To Jerry, my love

Today, two years ago, was the day that Jerry and I wed. And I want everyone to know that...


Jerry, you have always been loyal, faithful, FUN, and endearing. You will always be my best friend, my confidant, and a part of me. I look forward with joy to the many, many, many, many, many days ahead of us! ;) All the adventures that life will take us on. And all the many intricate, intimate, meaningful ways that the LORD will bring us closer and stronger together. I love you so very much and I am honored to be your wife.

~Rachael

2 teeth!!

Paul has a second tooth already poking through that I only just noticed today! No wonder he's been crabby... It also didn't help that I had a bit of coffee today.

Tooth!

These past couple months I've been waiting and watching and today... it finally came. Paul's first tooth! It's poking through! It suprised me so much I wasn't quite sure what to do! I couldn't believe it so much that I've checked it close to a million times already today. He's still doing great with the solids and he's always so eager to eat what I'm eating. Even though he can't. But he doesn't know that! ;) I will often just give him a taste so that way he feels included. And also so that he doesn't get discouraged from wanting to try different things. He has tried so many things I didn't think he would like, but he does!  His next checkup is the 30th of this month. Then we'll know officially how much he weighs and how much he's grown! So exciting! We have a scale at home now, but i keep forgetting to weigh him. The last time that I did, he was 16lbs exactly! Crazy. That's 9lbs he's put on since he was born 6 months ago. Sorry i'm cutting this short. I'm pretty distracted right now and it's late. LOVE!

Sweet crisp air

Hey everyone. It's been a while. Life has been up, down, sideways and some days... even. Jerry has continued to work hard and has also been able to squeeze in more play time with the guys. We did a lot of disc golfing this summer, and then Fall Out 3 came out for PS3. Jerry loves it.
I've been doing well. Still adjusting to mommy life. But I've been doing the best I can to get as much fun in as I can. Sunday school started yesterday and one of the classes offered was 101 Foundations. I love it so far! The teacher is also the brother in-law of a good friend of ours. His wife is my age and their youngest daughter of two is only a few months older than Paul!
Paul is also doing very well. He's seriously crawling, although he's still toppling over now and then, he's pretty much got the jist. He's often grunting and squirming to do things on his own. It's so exciting and sad at the same time. I'm already missing his first stages of life with us. Recently he used my leg to pull himself up to get to the things on top of our coffee table. It was crazy! I almost screamed with delight. I'm sure that if I had he would have gotten pretty scared and started crying. He's also eating solids. He's been doing very well with it, the eating part, he's just messy.
Looking forward to more cool weather. Been hard to stay inside these days. And then when I do... i go a little stircrazy.
Hope you all are doing well!