Holding The Baby

We're back from our epic NC travels, and now Jessa and Eli have already shuffled off to the Northwest to see still more family and friends. Don't worry, though, there is plenty of blog material to last the week.

We got the idea for this entry from scrolling through the many photos we took while in North Carolina. We were stunned at the sheer number of people who wanted to hold Eli. We thought it would be a neat idea to post all the pictures of people holding him. This is by no means an exhaustive collection; there were a few cases where the photo we took was of too bad quality to post (sorry, Dennis) or we just didn't happen to catch a photo of someone while they were holding Eli (countless people). But here are the ones we do have:

This is Eli and his great-great-aunt Mozelle on Christmas day.
Eli and his great-grandmother, who shall be called Moo (a contraction of "Grandma Lou").
Great-great-aunt JoAnne holding Eli on Christmas.
Great-grandfather takes a turn feeding Eli.
This is our friend Natalie, holding Eli at a get-together in Asheville.
Our friend Debra, ditto the above.
This is Eli's friend Laura, who is going to teach Eli how to run fartleks someday.
Eli and his buddy Jake.
This is T, whose babies are all grown up, holding Eli. This is the anaesthesiologist who encouraged us to consider an epidural. Smart man.
Kim is an old friend (Eric and Kim traveled to Cuba together in the late 90s). This was taken at the Early Girl Eatery, and just seeing this photo makes me want a biscuit.
This is Tommy holding Eli. Later that day, Eli would dramatically poop all over Tommy, but we failed to capture a photo of that, unfortunately.
Selena holding Eli at the Early Girl.
Eli's great-grandma Smith holding him.
Eli's second cousin Amanda taking her turn. She has lots of practice from her own 3 children.
Great uncle Jimmy taking Eli on a tour of the living room.
Christa and Eli go way back...she came to visit soon after he was born. She knows what she's doing; she has twin 5-year-old boys.
Eli's second cousin Andy. We told him the ladies would love this shot. Ladies, your move.
Great-uncle Bob in Rutherfordton.
Great-aunt Sharon, also in Rutherfordton.
Eli's great-grandmother on the Vassy side (Nan) in Shelby.
Great-grandfather Vassy (Pop), no doubt telling Eli a joke.
Eli already got called into the minister's office. Here's newly-minted District Superintendent Ashley hanging with Eli in her Asheville office.

Eli and his friend Melinda at the Calypso Cafe in Nashville on the way to NC. They got along great.

Eli and The Reverend Kara K. at Chili's in Cookeville, TN, where Jessa had put together a small surprise 30th birthday celebration.

Our Divinity School friend Will was a pro at calming Eli down.

Like I said, we probably missed half of the shots of people holding Eli, but this will give folks a sense of just how many people Eli got to meet. And he didn't even get sick! (Knocking on wood as I type....).