I'M 6 MONTHS OLD TODAY!

HURRAY!!!

(well, technically he was 6 months old yesterday, but it's only 1/2 past midnight and I'm still awake so it feels like "today")...

"Dougbert"

Here are the latest pics of our little "Dougbert" (my nickname for him...his middle names are Douglas Albert)...

-- His toothless Virgin Mary look---

--- His first day on the river ---

--- Daddy taught him how to play the "air guitar" ---
(daddy is an expert...heh heh)

--- Mommy's little pumpkin ---
aka "Moochie Poochie"

Update on the House Addition

I've had many requests for pictures of the house addition. I'm sorry I haven't been very good at posting about our progress, but it is really hard to capture on camera. People keep saying, "it looks so small on your pictures"...where in reality it is quite large (relatively speaking of course). So I'm afraid my pictures don't really work to give an accurate dimension to our work in progress...but here it is nonetheless.

Last week was insulation and siding week. This week the builder is working on re-roofing the existing house and finishing roofing the addition. We are also beginning sheetrock this week. That'll be exciting!

My Anti-Stink-Doggy-Room:

One of the things I designed for the addition is living quarters for Greta our dog. She will have her own built-in kennel just outside the Family Room. The thing I'm most excited about is that I designed it to take an exhaust fan - like one you would put in your bathroom. Now her retched, gag-you-up-a-river dog smells (and believe me, they are great dane sized) will get sucked up and out of the house! It'll probably scare her to death the first few times it turns on (it's on a motion sensor), but either way I guess the dog smells will stop! :) ***I'm awful!***

Here's Eric installing the GLORIOUS dog-reek eliminator.

Our backyard is a horrible eye-sore!

Hey look! We have another bathroom already!
-uh, I don't think I'll ever be THAT desperate!-

Soft Ball

This summer Eric joined a softball league. He plays with his friends James Tanneberger and Lee Hall. One of the things I have particularly enjoyed is that it gives us a reason to get out on a Friday night and enjoy the beautiful weather and it gives me an excuse to hang out with the my friends Laurel and Sara (the wives of James and Lee). I wish I could say that I pay close attention to the games, but the reality is that I'm sorta occupied chatting with my girlfriends! :)

Last Friday night their team came in 1st place in the championship playoffs! Way to go guys!

Here's Eric hitting the ball out of the park.
(Actually, this particular hit wasn't that great, but it was one of the moments
that I happened to be paying attention and with camera in hand!)

Eli waiting with daddy for daddy's turn at the batting plate.

Eli's Personal Ad

Eli's Personal Ad:

--- Single white male seeking single female---

About Me: I am a 5-1/2 month old young man with lots of energy and a great sense of humor.
I pretty much spend my afternoons body-building. I've learned to roll over, oh yeah girls you heard that right, and that's not all! I do push ups sometimes. Yep, push ups! You ought to see my my forearms. They're like, well, strong enough to hold up my torso for a few seconds. Heh, don't try that at home, believe me. It takes an expert.

I'm a really good house-guest. I keep my diaper explosions contained...for the most part. I mean, sometimes I let one or two spring a leak here and there just to make sure my mom is operating at peek efficiency. I consider that my job. Don't want her to get lazy on me.

I would say that one of my greatest strengths has definitely got to be that I know how to get a woman's attention. I mean, when it comes to that...ladies...you happen to be talkin' to a pro! My mom can hardly keep her eyes off of me. Everywhere I go people are oohing and ahhing all over me. I'm practically like ---- a movie star. Brad Pitt, move on over because here comes Eli Douglas Albert Jenks. I, well, I pretty much have women beating my door down. But hey, don't let that keep you from contacting me. I am holding out for the right one. I figure that, you know, I need to make my rounds, experience the life of waking up in a different woman's arms at every afternoon snooze, you know...gotta get a sense of what's right for me.

Bad Habits: Well, to be honest, I sorta hate the smell of a clean shirt. If you have a clean shirt, I'll most likely urp all over it. Sorry.

What I look like: Two words for you, baby..."good"...."lookin"! Heh. I let my pictures speak for themselves:

Like, check out the profile! That's a quality double chin.
Hello, not every guy has one of those.

I work out a lot....obviously!

So, ladies, if you wanna have a little piece of this...shoot me an email and maybe we'll grab a bottle of milk together or something. You never know when true love will strike ya. I say you gotta be ready. I just hope I am not too hot for you to handle. Peace out, girls!

Eli's Baptism

On April 13th we had Eli baptized (the Presbyterian form of "dedication" - not baptized to salvation as Roman Catholics do). It was a beautiful moment. Our pastor (now former - sniff sniff) John Jones IV performed the ceremony and everything he said was really beautiful. I actually have been telling myself that I need to type it out for Eli's scrapbook because it really was the most beautiful baptism I've ever witnessed...and it wasn't just because it was my son! I had several men tell me later that it moved them to tears. So maybe I'll pull out the video camera and type it out for y'all. Here are pictures though...

John's charge to Eric and me as witnesses of Christ in
Eli's daily life and as those who will teach him
to love Jesus:

"Sprinkling" - the Presbyterian way to baptize...

At the end of the baptism John called for the congregation to stand
and make vows to us that they will help Eric and I in any way
they can as we raise Eli. They also vow to pray for him.
Then John led the church in their first prayer (below) for him.

Afterwards we had a gathering at our house to celebrate.
The following pictures are from the celebration.
Below is my friend Melinda (left) and sister Kristine (right)

Susie Tosti - my former choir teacher and friend.

"Uncle Tony" - this is the man who helped diagnose and correct my low progesterone
levels which, in turn, ended my years of infertility.
The payment for his help...he gets to be called "uncle". :)

Friend Dava talking to my brother Ethan.
Behind Dava is Barb Kempe, the wife of our homegroup leader.

Back left: Randy Morris, my dad Bob, Eric Runge (only striped shirt is seen) and Dava.
Bottom left: My mom Rhonda, Melinda Morris and Diane Morris

My mom graciously made Eli the most adorable baptismal outfit. It is really hard to see from these pictures, but it is a white top and seersucker blue and while pin stripe fabric below with a blue satin waist band and blue satin bow tie.
Sweetly, it matches the outfit the she made and had my brothers baptized in.
He is pictured here with Diane Morris (who had always wanted a red headed grandchild but doesn't have one...I told her she can claim Eli if she wants too).

See the adorable bow tie?

Summer Evening Walk...

We have this fantastic paved trail near our house that we love to walk during the evenings. I actually often walk it during the afternoons too - it is so lovely. Anyway, here are some pictures of one of our dusk-walks...

Isn't he looking like a full-blown BOY these days?
Where did my baby go?
Hey - at least he still has red hair...very red hair. :)

Bath Time with Daddy

Couldn't help but post these adorable - yet obscene - pictures:

Blogger keeps turning this picture sideways - not sure why.
But if you can just stand on your head while looking at this picture you'll notice how much
fun Eli is having during his bath time with daddy. Huge happy baby smile...

Baby buns ... because everyone loves them.
(especially mommies)

Catching Up...

I know, I know, we have definitely been absent from blogging lately. But we've been busy with the house remodel, church stuff and traveling 3 weeks in a row. Eli got to enjoy his very first Hoopfest - which was a total blast (pics to follow hopefully) and we also spent a WONDERFUL long weekend in Pacific City (on the Oregon coast) over the 4th of July. I'll post pics of our travels later. But for how, here are some of my favorite most recent ones:

Those of you who know Eric can totally attest to the fact that
the face he is displaying here is the face of absolute happiness and contentedness.
This particular night Eli just sat with Eric for almost an hour, completely still and snuggly.
I think Eric had had a bad day - so Eli's snuggles were just what we needed.

As you can see, Eli is now doing the 5 month old "airplane" position.
I caught this picture at one of the rare moments when he was enjoying it -
usually he cries. lol.

Eli Transfixed:
I just can't get over the fact that I have a blue eyed baby!!!
Eric has dark brown eyes and I have very dark copper colored eyes.
Where these blue eyes came from I cannot say - but I love em...

I had the pleasure of hanging with Grant, my little almost 12 year old brother, for a few days over the last week. It was fun to watch Grant grow into his uncle duties. I even let him watch Eli while I ran to the store. He is a great uncle!

Could anything be sweeter? I think not.