Eli - 4 weeks old

When you deliver a baby the hospital won't let you video tape. But luckily for us you can do an audio recording. And lucky for me, my dad stood behind the door recording my son being born. For those that think this is too personal for a public blog, you are correct. But putting this intimate moment online is my way of preserving it forever,.. if something happens to my phone or laptop, I will always have this online. One thing I love about this recording is you hear the excitement and love that was in that room, I will treasure those feelings forever. And Eli will be able to hear his daddy, Gma and Aunt Amelia's excitement over his arrival (mommy was wore out!). I put a slideshow with the audio, sorry if there are repeats. It isn't easy to make a video while holding a beautiful baby. :) 

Eli was so excited when I told him he was 4 weeks old today

Big milestone this week - Circumcision. Thursday we took little man to get snipped. We couldn't feed him an hour before his appointment (8AM), luckily that coincided with his feeding schedule. But the other poor little baby that was there for his circ. was hungry and wailing. Christian and my Susan (MIL) came with Eli and I (my mom tried to make it as well). But Jane was confused and went to the wrong pediatrician. I was so proud of Christian, he went in with Eli during his surgery so Eli would not feel abandoned. The other baby (his name was Landon) was very upset through the procedure while Eli was chill, just staring at his daddy. The nurses were having fun at poor Landon's expense calling him a big cry baby and saying that Eli was a big boy (another reason why I am soo grateful that Christian went in with Eli, nurses can't make fun of a baby in front of his daddy). I will spare you the details of the surgery that Christian described to me, but I will say that it looks like an open wound. When I first saw it I cried. But overall Eli did great Thursday, a little grumpy and a lot sleepy. I am glad that it is over, now we are just praying it heals fast and correctly.  

Weight - 10.4 lbs

Growth activities - Bicycles! Eli's legs are so strong! We do the bicycles to help build the muscles and he shows me gummy smiles! He is starting to talk in his baby language and it is so cool!! I love his sweet sounds. 

Big outing - Eli went to his first movie - The Lucky One.... One of the many things I loved about having Susan with us these past weeks, she encouraged us to get out once a day. It is so easy to become a recluse with an infant. There are so many anxieties that come with babies,... will strangers get him sick? will he get hungry? where will I feed him? will he start crying for no reason? So all that still makes me nervous, but it is not going to stop me from doing things. So yes, I took my baby to a movie. We went to a lunch time matinee, and shared the theater with 4 ladies. Eli was sooo great! He slept through 90% of the movie, when he started to wake up I fed him a little snack and he lasted the remainder of the film. I don't know if we are ready to go to a late night movie (the later in the evening the more apt to cry and more people in the theater,...)  

 Favorite part of this week - Jazzercise. Yet another reason why my MIL is amazing. She watched Eli for me so I could make it to my mom's Jazzercise class this week. Today we did not make it to Jazzercise..., we will try again Monday. 
 

What I'm looking forward to next week - Christian and I have been trying to decide on what to get to plant in honor of Eli. My mom planted a tree when Amelia and James were born and I would like to adopt this tradition for my babies (that is plural) So this week we are making a trip to Home Depot to pick out a tree or bush to grow as Eli grows. My vote is for a blue flowers, Christian wants to plant a tree that Eli will be able to climb. 

AND ... Time to start bottle training! woo woo :) This is exciting to me because I am not comfortable nursing in public yet, so this would give us a few more hours to be out in the real world without having to watch the clock, also maybe someone else could feed Eli, ya know, share the bonding love.

How is nursing going - Huge thanks to my Aunt Heather for giving me Lansinoh Soothing Gel Nursing Pads. These nursing pads made the first 3 weeks bearable, and now I don't need them. I would strongly suggest these to anyone that is going to nurse their bebe. So now a new challenge, I really want to build up a supply. I have approx 30 oz. But last Friday when I pumped, I got only one ounce, which was very disappointing. This really discouraged me. But I read an article on pumping tips and it said that women that recreational pump (pumping not out of necessity but to build up supply) sometimes only get 1/2 to maybe 2 ounces a session. And if I want to become a pro milk-gatherer I should pump after every time I feed Eli. That is intense. So Thursday I gave pumping another shot and got 4 ounces!! WOO WOO!! I hope this continues.... 

   

What did our schedule look like this week:  

6:00 ish Eli wakes up hungry

**This was the time that I got some extra zzz's in thanks to my MIL**

8:30 Hungry again

11:30 Hungry again

2:30 Hungry again

5:00 Hungry again

7:15 Bath time

7:30 Dinner time 

8:00 Story time with daddy, prayers, swaddle 

8:30ish BED

10:30 ish I wake up Eli to eat

3:30 ish  Eli wakes up hungry 

**This schedule is subject to change if Eli gets hungry at 2.5 hours apart instead of 3, then the whole schedule changes by 30 minutes,... also the schedule changes if we go over to Gma and Super-Cool's house for dinner, bath time and night time routines get pushed back but eating times stay the same

Visitors - My live in nanny, I mean my mother-in-law, went home today. I know it is time for me to stand on my own, I hope Christian doesn't mind eating cereal for dinner for the next few weeks... What I will miss the most is those few precious hours that I got in the morning thanks to my momma-mia (MIL) What I'm trying to say is... COME BACK SOON!! :) Also... if you find yourself bored in the North Hill area, stop by and say hi! 

My confession corner:  I am pretty sure that my side of the bed, and everything I wear smells like breast milk. And breast milk doesn't have the best smell... especially old breast milk  Amelia get me some more of my perfume, I need to smell good again :) 


Also... Eli's diapers don't hold back leaks so great... SO when I feed him on the bed, sometimes he pees all over me and the bed, and if its 3 in the morning, sometimes I don't care.