Eli - 6 weeks old

6 week old pictures with Eli's hydrangea bushes that we planted in honor of his birth

On his 6 week birthday here are 6 Things I LOVE about Eli:


Of coarse I love everything about him,from his innocent soft spot to his tiny toes and every hiccup in between... but these are just a few things that I ADORE and feel are extra special about Eli. 

1. Eli wakes up in a good mood - yes it is at 6 in the morning but it's precious. I can't wait until I am getting more sleep so I can enjoy his sweetness more. I also love that he smiles and laughs in his sleep. 
2. Eli loves to be naked! Whenever we change his diaper he gets the biggest grin on his face - it's pretty stinkin' hilarious 
3. My baby boy enjoys his car seat - he rarely fusses when he is in his seat. He is a good car baby,... so far!
4. There is a recipe to getting Eli to stop crying, shhh+butt pat = happy baby ... in extreme circumstances pop the paci and swaddle my boo and he is as good as asleep (Happiest Baby on the Block)
5. Eli is on a schedule and he knows it, this is awesome for me! I thank Baby Wise for that... this blog is extremely helpful FYI www.babywisemom.com
6. He adores his daddy. Whenever Eli sees Christian, Eli just can't stop smiling, it is the sweetest thing.

Is someone ticklish??

How was Mothers Day? My first Mother's Day I was spoiled rotten. My MIL got me a beautiful dress, my mom a pearl ring, Christian got me a nano and Eli made me a sweet gift! I am a lucky momma! :)  

My sweet baby and hubby made this for me <3

Mother of Pearl

Big milestones - I feel like I am getting back to my "new" normal. I cooked dinner Sunday, I clean daily now, I'm wearing my hair down and I am running again. 

Morning Run

Special visitors - Eli's great-grandma and cousin Theresa came to visit, and we had such a good time with them! 

With great-grandma at Macaroni Grill 

Eating momma's milk with cousin Theresa 

Weight - According to my bathroom scale 11.2 lbs 


What our schedule looks like - 
6:30 Wake up and eat!
8:30 Eat again
11:30 Eat again
2:30 Eat again
5:00 Eat again
7:30 Eat again
10:00 Eat again
4:00 Eat again


This week I left Eli with my mom on Tuesday & Thursday to go work with Foley Middle School cheerleaders, and it was hard! Leaving him was like leaving my arm behind, but it was only for 4 hours, and I was so excited to come back to him! And the camp is going great. I will be working with them Tues & Thurs for the remainder of May, helping to get them ready for camp. 

Photo's Throughout The Week

With Uncle Muscles at Surf Burger

Thanks Bear For Helping Clean-up The Diapers

With Gma at Macaroni Grill

In His Cute Floppy Hat

Oh hi! You are ADORABLE!

Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?

Taking a bottle of mommy's milk from daddy

At Jazzercise

Eli likes to workout to at Jazzercise 

My Confessions - I bought the CUTEST baby book for my Mr. Man, but I have yet to fill it out...

Eli - 5 weeks old

While writing my blog this morning, I received an email from my best friend Anna. She sent me this amazing story, that I have to share. I watched this video with Eli on my chest sound asleep. Tears were streaming. I feel so blessed by this video. Praise the Lord for baby Christian. And I praise You, Lord, for my Eli. Please watch this video, it will bless you.

This morning baby and I had a little 5 week photo shoot, here are some of my favorite pics:

Thanks Aunt Haley for my adorable tie onesies! You are the best and we love you so much!!

This is why I do laundry every day - 

Eli's Smiles - This week has been all about big gummy grins, and I LOVE IT!!! He is especially happy in the morning. That is when this video was taken: 

Big milestone this week -  This week we introduced the bottle! Daddy was the first one to feed him the bottle. At first Eli just looked at Christian like "what are you doing with that?" So I came and sat next to them, and Eli started chugging away. After the initial shock of food coming from someone other than mommy, he took it like a champ. We give little man a bottle of mommy's milk almost everyday. 

                                       
Weight - 11 lbs (according to my bathroom scale) 


Special visitors -  Sunday Christian's dad came through and stayed with us on his way to a dog show, we had a great dinner at the local favorite O'zones, and Eli was a doll! On Wednesday my nanny came to visit and Eli fell in love with his great grandma, we hope she comes back soon! 

Looking forward to this weekend - We have decided on what to plant in honor of our son: a blue hydrangea bush. Aren't they beautiful? SO, hopefully this weekend we can find one and be able to get it in the ground! 


                                                 

Looking forward to next week -  On Monday my grandma and cousins Theresa and Audrey are coming into town to visit Eli, and I can't wait to see them! Audrey just finished her first year of college and Theresa just graduated from nursing school! I couldn't be prouder :) 


Mixed feelings next week - For the remainder of May, I will be teaching an after school cheerleading camp Tuesday & Thursday for Foley Middle School. The camp will be from 3:30 - 6:30. And even though it is only about 4 hours (with travel time) that I will be away from Eli, I am not looking forward to it; but I am excited to coach cheerleading. I am glad that he will be with my mom and then Christian. Eli will be in good hands.


Special outings - We made it to grandma's Jazzercise class!! Monday was our first class together. I kept him in his car seat and put him in front of me while I worked out. Eli kept looking at me like, "what are you doing??" I definitely felt like he was judging me. At the Wednesday class my nanny and Amelia where there so they watched Eli for me. We also have class today, I hope it goes as good as Monday went. 

Eli and mom at Jazzercise

At the end of class

                                       


Favorite day of the week -  Thursday was a good day. We went to lunch with the recent college graduate Hannah (who is heading to NY for an internship) After lunch Eli and I were feeling a little daring (we finished lunch around 1:30 and Eli needed to eat again at 2:30) we headed over to Christian's work to introduce Eli to daddy's co-workers. I was so nervous Eli would be grumpy, because it was so close to when he needed to eat. But the moment Eli saw Christian his face exploded into these huge gummy grins! Eli was soo excited to see his daddy. To me his expressions said "so this is where you've been!" It was the sweetest encounter, brought hormonal tears to my eyes. We are so blessed with a sweet loving baby! 


                                             
Meet my new best friend - The Pacifier! :) 


                                     


                                     

This is my new babysitter - Eli LOVES to look outside! This distracts him for a good chunk of time, until he gets bored :) 

                                             

Other big news - Auntie Ama-ma (Amelia) Got her permit!! Woo woo!! She is a VERY good driver,.. but no driving Eli around for awhile though! Like maybe when your 25....

                                  

                                           

Pictures throughout the week.... 

You are looking at my heart. 

This is how mommy carries me around

This is how daddy carries me around

They just grow-up so fast!

Cooking with gma!

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.