Happy 4th Birthday Sweet Baby Boy

Four years ago today, we were blessed with the birth of our son, Elijah William Moore. These have been the happiest, most fulfilling years of my life. I am so lucky to be the mother of a thoughtful, eloquent, sensitive, intelligent, silly and loving little boy. He constantly surprises, awes and challenges me. He enriches my life in ways that I never could have imagined. As everyone said, and I never truly understood, he has taught me how to love more deeply and fully than I ever have before. Happy 4th Birthday to my sweet baby boy.

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Dendi and I had plans to start Eli's birthday morning right, with a trip to Eli's all-time favorite restaurant -- IHOP. I was madly trying to get the three of us ready for Dendi's early morning arrival, so as I brushed my teeth I asked Eli to start getting himself dressed. I put a basket of clean clothes on his bed and asked him to pick out his clothes for the day. I started to hear giggles coming from his room. When I walked in to check on his progress I saw my birthday boy in his birthday suit, giggling, and sitting in the clothes basket. Needless to say, he wasn't dressed in time for Dendi's arrival, but he had a great start to his day.


On the way to the car, Eli fit in a little time on his trike.


Months ago, I had filled in a birthday card for Eli at IHOP, and sure enough, last week they sent it back. It entitled us to one free Kid's meal. After placing our order, the server took the card from me. I thought nothing of it. Then, after our meal, the entire staff came out of the kitchen singing and bearing a GIANT ice cream sundae. At first, Eli was grinning ear to ear while hiding behind Dendi a little (he explained to me later, they were loud). Then, once they left the sundae on the table, and returned to work he was absolutely beaming. After contemplating a few more bites of his pancakes, he decided to save room for his sundae and dove right in. It was a surprise that made the morning so much more magical. There's nothing like ice cream in the morning to start your day off right!




We went home and had a nice day, in spite of the strange, windy, stormy weather. When Scottie got home, we headed out to IHOP, once again. It was Scott's school's Spirit Night. Scott ran the idea by Eli and Eli leaped at the chance to return to his favorite restaurant. This time, Eli had macaroni and cheese for dinner and for dessert his special birthday cupcake from Dendi. Keira tried to sit patiently, but she is almost walking, and all she wants to do right now is "walk" around holding on to furniture, walking toys, or fingers. Unfortunately, for me, the girl isn't even that interested in sleeping. She tried to convince me for an entire hour in the middle of the night last night that it was time to wake up and start toddling around.