Visit from Aunt Amanda! - Letter from Russ

Last weekend Amanda came up to St. Louis for a weekend with Eliot. On Friday Katie was away for an overnight women's retreat at church and I had a show across town, so Amanda was excited to get there just in time for some quality baby sitting time with Eliot right away. Problem was, here flight was delayed. Laura had come over to spend the night at the house, to, and offered to pick Amanda up from the airport. I tried and tried to keep El awake until she got here, and just as he was dozing off Laura's car rolled up the street. I picked Eliot up and took him outside so Amanda could at least give him a good night kiss. We were all bummed that she wasn't gonna have any time with him on Friday night after all. But the minute she said hello he practically jumped out of my arms, cuddled up on her shoulder in a little ball and held on tight. We made our way into the house, and El slowly fell asleep on her shoulder. So although there wasn't a great amount of playtime on Friday night, it didn't seem to matter, because that was very special. Laura and her roommate spent the night, so it was a good time for them to catch up as well.

The next day was filled with going to the park, having lunch together, playing soccer in the front yard, etc. Eliot was turning on the charm and pulling out all his newest tricks for Aunt Amanda. It was like he knew that she needed to catch up! And of course,
she took TONS of pictures and video to share with everybody at home. So if you'd like to see all of the fun things they got to do together, just ask. She'd be more than happy to show him off!

Saturday evening Katie returned and the two girls did lots more playing and catching up, and then Sunday we all went to church and had a day full of hanging with friends. Amanda was here for the "shower" that Katie threw for her friend Sharon who lived with her in Guatemala. That night Amanda came to Damascus Road, the young adults ministry I lead worship for on Sunday nights. All in all it was a pretty busy weekend, but packed with lots of fun. We had a great time and Eliot LOVES his Aunt Amanda.

Mom comes up this week after Thanksgiving, so I'm sure she'll be ready to share even more photos and stories. Until then, I'm having Amanda post some pics on this blog so you can see how big and cute our boy is! Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!