Lucky In Love

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Eli - 18 weeks

This week Eli turned 4 months old! I am so proud of my amazing E! On Tuesday we had his Dr. appointment. And I have to say again that I adore my pediatrician. She puts my mind at ease and answers all my questions even the dumb ones.

Anyway, Eli is still in the 95% for height, 55% for weight and just under 50% for his head size. He is our growing buddy!!

This is a list of my 3 month must haves and my 4 month wish list ... the items in bold and italics are things I want to get for Eli this month.

Angel Blanket – using this for sleep training
Take along arch – this can be attached to almost anything and Eli LOVES it!
Kick and Play Piano Gym
Udder Covers
Britax Convertible Car seat – This is on my wish list…. I think I will wait until Eli can sit up on his own better. Because I use his carseat now when we go into stores
Bumpo Tray – I plan on getting this when we start feeding Eli solids on a daily basis… we do have a high chair but this will be easier to travel with
Sophie the Giraffe – heard this was great for teething babies… but is it too girly?
Johnny Jumper – Eli would LOVE this!
Instant Ear Thermometer – The one I have now is an under the arm and it takes FOREVER!

Eli loves the water! Here is a video of Eli playing in the outside shower at the beach house Haley and her amazing family were staying at...

Big milestone - Eli eating his toes! Last week my bff Haley was in town with her family (staying at my dream house out on the beach,... literally walked through the entire house LOVING everything about it) We were enjoying the view of the sound on their screened in porch and Eli was lounging on the furniture with Christian and then plopped those little toes right in his mouth!

Special visitors - Haley was in town for Katie and Jakes wedding, which was absolutely stunning! My family kept little man (mom and dad had so much fun playing with him in the pool). The reception was at an amazing location on the water on Palafox with delicious food and fun music! Christian and I had such an amazing time! And I LOVED seeing old friends that I hadn't seen since graduation. It was a spectacular night!

Katie and Jake have been together for 10 years! So precious

Me and my besties! I have known Rachel (left) since 5th grade and Haley (right) since 6th

Me n Haley

Weight - 14 lbs 5.5 oz according to the Dr.

Looking forward to this weekend - This weekend we are in ST. Augustine. We are so excited to be in our love town! We are getting to spend time with old friends (Scott and Jane) and see Christians family. We love riding our bikes around ST. Augustine, so we had to hook little buddy up with a helmet before we left!

Favorite day of the week - My favorite day last week was Tuesday. Eli and I met Christian for lunch at one of our favorite spots (Bagel Heads) then Eli and I came home and it was a rainy nasty day so Eli and I cuddled in bed for a few hours napping and watching recorded shows. He was so cuddly, I loved it! I have decided that I am going to form Eli into the perfect man..., and number 1 on my list is cuddly - I will consider this checked off. Next - be able to fix a flat tire and cars in general .... oh wait, might have to hold off on that for a few years!

How is Eli sleeping - At around 4 months old, babies sleep cycles tend to change to become that more like an adults. We wake up often during the night but do not remember it... Now that Eli's sleep cycles are shorter (like that of an adult), about half the time he is waking up every 3 - 4 hours at the end of the sleep cycle (the other 1/2 of the nights Eli sleeps like a champ till 7 or 8 am). And however I put Eli to sleep that is how he is going to look to be put back to sleep when he wakes up from these cycles (i.e. if I nurse him to sleep he is going to think that he needs to nurse back asleep, or his pacifier or patting his bottom, etc.) So Dr. O'Grady says to make sure that he is awake when we put him to sleep (this is 100% Babywise too, and we were doing that in the beginning but then he started falling asleep while nursing so we just let him get into this habit). Also Dr. O'Grady says that we can put his "El" (his little elephant blanket/toy) in there with him and that can be his comfort item when/if he wakes up after a sleep cycle. If you want to read more about 4 month old sleep patterns/cycles check out this article. Four Month Sleep Regression Explained (sometimes 3 months too) and 4 month sleep problems

Nicknames - Christian has taken to call Eli his "Bud-bud" and "Boo-boo" it's really cute! Besides the typical love names, I like to call him Mr. E. He is so precious!!

Random - Saw this great workout idea on Pintrest and had to steal it.... you put exercises on Popsicle sticks and throughout the week pick a stick and complete them all by the end of the week.... I color coded mine by what part of the body it works and I plan on picking 2 from each color everyday of the week.

This is mine

This is the pintrest one

Pictures of Eli Throughout the Week!

Baby you are a dream come true!

How did we get so lucky?

Blessed.

4 months!!

So sweet!!!

Loves eating his feet now! Just like his Uncle Muscles!

This bumpo would look great with a trey!

Playing with Hay hay!

LOVING the view!

Eli meeting baby Benjamin, my friend Ashley's baby from church

Swinging in the park!

I love this phase that Eli is getting in... He wants to be apart of everything Christian and I do... what we eat, what we hold, everything! He is so curious, my little explorer!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Eli - 16 & 17 weeks

This week I had every intention of posting two separate post, but I had some technical difficulties so combined they shall be!

The last week in July, Eli and I (and Christian a little too) spent it in Palm Bay, FL. I was teaching a cheerleading camp to Delaura Middle School while Eli got to spend some quality time with his grandma, grandpa and auntie.

Loving your babies is a given. The love I feel for Eli is almost all consuming. But to see other's love and adore your baby, just fills me with so much joy and love for that person, I can barely explain. I see the Voelkel's love for Eli and it touches my heart.

Big milestones - Most of Eli's big milestones happen on the 16th week. And there were a substantial amount:

Sitting up! Now it may look a little like a gorilla baby sits, but it is by himself - at least for a few moments...

At 16 weeks Eli became very interested in food and drink...

And then on his 17th week, with the approval of our pediatrician, Eli had his first iron-fortified oatmeal (we picked oatmeal over cereal because of the additional nutritional value)

Once we get passed oatmeal, I am excited to become Eli's personal chef! This website has a lot of great and easy ideas for making your own baby food! Homemade Baby Food

Baby Center has a lot of really good articles on Introducing Solid Foods including an Age-by-age guide as to what they can eat and when

Eli's hand-eye coordination is really improving. He can put his pacifier in his mouth probably 7 out of 10 times, but if the camera is on who know!

Eli loves online books!!! So stickin precious.

FROM BABYTV.COM

First plane ride! Christian was able to fly out to Palm Bay with us for the weekend, but it was just Eli and I on the ride home! I would just like to say that there are still really nice people out there that feel for a momma traveling alone with her baby!

Eli and momma looking a little rough after the plan ride!

Special visitors - My Aunt Pam, Uncle John and cousin Nicole came with my Meemaw to visit baby Eli!

Weight - 13.54 at the doctors office (we went in because Eli had some red bumps - mosquito bites from going on walks/runs )

Looking forward to this weekend - My friend Katie (who I have known since 6th grade and cheered with since 8th) is getting married!! After 10 years of being in love, she is marring her high school sweetheart Jake Rosa. This is the stuff that books and movies are made of, particularly Nicholas Sparks works. So my momma will keep baby boy for us! First date night since Christian's mom was here.

Speaking of all things romantic.... Christian and I are celebrating our FIVE year anniversary on Sunday. I am sooo incredibly blessed by him. In love with my best friend. God is good. It is only through God's perfect love, that an imperfect person like me can love as passionately as I love Christian.

Teething - My friend Stefanie shared this recipe for teething biscuits and Eli loved them! But... as embarrassing as it is to admit... a pediatrician in our practice told us Eli was not teething. Before you go judging... my mom saw the little pearly white underneath the gums too! Oh well... I will blame it on being a new mom! This is my first time! Plus Christian's teeth broke through when he was Eli's age, so I thought like father like son.

Special outings - We went to the beach last weekend with some dear friends to celebrate a birthday, and Eli showed off his growing swimming skills. Like I said in previous post, we are working through the How To Teach Your Baby To Swim book. You tell me if it's working!

How is nursing going - Overall nursing is still going really well. I have had a few clogged ducts, they are very painful. But they only last a day or so and then all is good!

How is Eli sleeping - When we were out of town in Palm Bay Eli went on a sleeping strike. Which was horrible because I had to be up at 7 am their time which is 6 am our time! I blamed it on either a growth spurt or being in a new place or both! But right when we got home he went right back to sleeping till 5:45 - 6:30 eating and going back to sleep until 8-8:30

This was all fine and dandy until we started oatmeal Tuesday. I don't know if it's the oatmeal or what.... but the last two nights Eli woke up at 11, 1, 2, 4, 5 and ready for the day at 6:30!!! WHAT!! Eli hasn't been like that since, well never. So. What's up with that?? I read a lot of articles, and talked to my dear friend Joyelle who has 5 babies, one including Eli's girlfriend Lily (he definitely grabbed her hand at church Sunday) I read this and this and this But after talking with Joyelle we are going to pause doing oatmeal until we figure out what the sleep thing is...

So last night we didn't do any oatmeal and Eli went right back to sleeping through the night! Take that oatmeal! We don't need you for awhile anyways,...

Traveling - So Eli has decided that he hates riding in the car since we went on those 3 long trips in a row. Well Christian and I are planning on going to St.Augustine for our anniversary. It is a 6 hour car ride. And also adding in the fact that Eli doesn't sleep good in new places,... I'm not convinced it would be much of a vacation for me. But we love St. Augustine so much, that it will probably be worth it... probably.

So I have been looking into ways to make that drive easier and I have ordered these 2 gizmo's to help!

Order Here

When Eli get's older I will order him this.

Also, Eli is such a hot natured baby that his back gets hot after being in the car too long, and I can imagine that that is very uncomfortable. SO my momma-mia (MIL) is making Eli a car seat cooler.

While looking for ideas/suggestions for travelling with little people, I came across this checklist on what to pack that looks very helpful! Click here

Random - I came across this article on Stumbleupon, and it is pretty ridiculous 20 Products Great For Traumatizing Infants

ALSO!!!! For all my running buddies out there... in 2010 I did the Pensacola half marathon, and I loved it. Starting this week I am going to begin training for the one this year... I am training to finish not win! LOL But if you want to train with me, run with me or just pray for me,... here is the training schedule I will be following. Let's do this ladies! If you want the pdf or excel sheet of this training schedule just let me know.