41 & 42 weeks

Eli 41 & 42 weeks 

So I have been thinking about how being a mom has changed my life,.. and most of the changes have been for the better -  Eli has made me see the small joys in life, he has made me more responsible, I see God's glory and God's love through him, he has made me understand my purpose in life more,... and honestly the list could go on and on,.. but, some not so great (mostly selfish) like much less sleep, less money, less personal time, going out of town is an EVENT - it seriously use to take me 15 minutes to pack, now it take upwards of 2 hours. 

But some of the changes are kinda hilarious and I never really thought about post babe... 

For instance:

... It takes at least 3 different times to complete a movie 

... I find myself peeling and halfing grapes for a little buddy who throws 1/3 of them on the ground 

... I am usually the last one to eat (if you know me, there is irony there)

... I always have food, drool, snot or some combination of the three on some part of my clothing. 

But seriously - it is awesome. You know how people say when I'm having a bad day I come home and my dog loves me no matter what? Those people are missing out,... because you don't know unconditional love until you go pick up your baby after being separated for even just an hour. That smile, like "oh there you are! I have been waiting for you!" Melts. Your. Heart. Anyway, have babies people.  

Teeth - We have those 4 on the top, 2 on the bottom and it looks like 2 more are coming in on the bottom. Here is a teething schedule FYI :) 

Yo Gabba what?  - We have a new favorite TV show people!! And Eli likes it too!! No really, I seriously enjoy Yo Gabba Gabba. This show teaches great morals (ex. "There's a party in my tummy and the carrots want to go to the party in my tummy" - you can't get any better than that). Eli loves the music and I love that they have random guest stars... ex: Jimmy Eats World, Jack Black, Metta World Peace, Weird Al, Elijah Wood, Tony Hawk... anyway it is a fun show, and Eli LOVES it! My favorite character is Brobee 

Words and sounds - I would like to add a new word to Eli's list, but my mom is questioning my credibility... But to ME it sounded like Eli said "banana" when I was feeding him a banana.... believe it or not..... But seriously my baby said banana. 

By the way - I love Eli's personality. He is so outgoing and friendly. And funny. Whenever we go out, he says "hey" to everyone and points at them or waves. People eat it up too, because it's pretty much adorable.

Also, I am addicted to the way Eli smells. If I could bottle his odor (not the stinky diaper one) I would. When he is asleep, I like to just cuddle with him and soak that smell in. I know his smell will change, one day it will be that of a pre-pubescent BO boy, then it will be a cologne covered man.... 

Milestones - Drum roll please..... Eli has started clapping!! We were at my brother James's basketball game and everyone was clapping for the teams and ta-da! Eli started clapping! 

Also, while we were in St. Augustine, I bought Eli an apple juice drink box. First I was squeezing the juice up the straw, then he started sucking on the straw himself! So proud. (Ok - just a side note - thank you for reading my blog... I know this is not the most exciting stuff here... )

Eli helping with the laundry: 

What's New - When it gets closer to bedtime, Eli gets really cuddly. Whenever he lays his head on our chest we would say "sweet baby"... well now if we say show daddy sweet baby, he lays his head on our chest! SUPER adorable.

St. Augustine - Last weekend we went out to St. Augustine. While we were there we visited Chris's sister Liz at UNF, saw friends, and Chris's parents came up for the day, and his grandparents met Eli for the first time. 

Chris, Scott & Eli

At Shmagles 

Drinking out of a cup like the boss

The Fort

Oldest School

The Love tree

Love riding bikes with daddy,... when we got over the brick roads he likes to say "AHAHHAHHAHHH" cause it shakes his voice 

Night of Lights

Date night 

Add caption

Jacksonville to see Liz 

Drinking apple juice heated up from Starbucks 

walking around Liz's campus 

Walking around the town center all bundled up

Asleep in the Cheese Cake Factory 

Liz's dorm room

Pictures of Eli 

I ordered some balls to make Eli a ball pit - I put them in his pack-and-play

Eli loves to share!

At James's basketball game playing with Gma

My cuddle buddies

Such a hard life

I am working on a shadow box for Mr. E

Another picture mom?

Looking for daddy

sleeping on the way to St. Augustine

38 39 & 40 weeks {Christmas & 9 months}

Eli ~ 9 months 

**Christmas**

9 month photo sesh!

Precious has a name ... ELI!

I am a dream come true

Eli is so fun!! - This age has been so much fun for me! He is a lot more attentive and interactive.... He likes to duplicate our noises, like yawns, it is hilarious! He likes to wave bye and even hello! We like to look in the mirror and wave Hi to the baby in the mirror, so precious. He loves music,... daddies guitar and his drum are his favorites. He likes to take his drum stick and hit it against all different types of dishes, Tupperware  anything, to see what kind of noise it will make, he is so inquisitive! 

Teeth - Eli has 4 teeth on top and 2 on the bottom, I don't see anymore poking through anytime soon.  

Dr. appointment - We just had Eli's 9 month checkup, and he did great! Our Dr. is so great to Eli. She just gushes about how advanced he is. And Eli is SUCH a flirt to the girls at the front desk, and they eat him up! He showed off all his skills for Dr. O'Grady so she was very impressed. 

Eli is in the 40th percentile for weight and 85th percentile for height, he is right on track! 

Weight - Just under 20 lbs about 19lbs 14 ounces 

Growth activities - He is standing on his own, going back to sitting then standing up again! He loves his elephant that he got for Christmas... This elephant blows balls through his nose then the ears catch the ball and put it back in the elephant to blow out the nose again... he loves this! He stands and plays with the balls that come out, and he likes the air that flows through. 

How is nursing going - This is the hard part to talk about.... On January 3rd Eli "weaned" himself. He just woke up and was done with nursing. Here are the factors that I think contributed:

1. We did a LOT of traveling over Christmas, and this really messed up our schedule... We drove to Birmingham, then Tennessee then back home, and Eli didn't cry to nurse so we didn't make many stops for him to nurse. 
2. He threw up my milk the day before he stopped nursing, and you know how it is when you throw something up, you don't want to eat it for a while.
3. The flow of the bottle is so much faster and he likes holding it, and playing with the bottle...
4. Too many solids too fast, we went from 100% nursing till 6 months, then we did 1 oatmeal (iron fortified) feeding, then we went to 3 soon after, and I didn't nurse him until after he ate solids. I should have nursed first then fed him the solids, and I should have waited till now to do 3 meals a day....live and learn. 

Anyway, this has been really hard for me, and here are my reasons:

1. It happen so fast!! One moment he was all nursed then the next day it was like he said "I would rather starve then eat from you" I was (am) hurt!! 
2. Nursing is hard work, but I loved nursing Eli. He was (is) worth the hard work, and it was one way for me to show that being Eli's mom meant more to me than my comfort.  
3. Nursing Eli was something only I could do for him, it was a special time for me and Eli, still connecting us even though the umbilical cord was gone. 

So, yes I have boo-hoo'd,.. a little bit more than I would care to admit. I didn't know how much I loved, and missed nursing until it was done. A part of me feels like he isn't a baby anymore,.. which is so not true. But it is how I feel, but I am working through it, finding other ways to have a special connection with Eli.

And in the end I believe that this is a blessing in disguise,... I have heard how heartbreaking and hard it can be to try to wean a baby. And Eli had started biting extremely hard, to the point I felt like I was going to puke. So, it was time. But my little mommy heart stills aches for him to reach for me in that special way.... I wish I could nurse him one more time just to know it was the last, to soak it in.... If someone would have told me 8 months ago that I would miss nursing so much, I would have laughed in their face.... *sigh*

Eli is growing up so fast. But I can make the choice to dwell on the babe that will no longer nurse / let me hold him like a baby, or I can soak in my sweet little man.

First family sickness - So we had our first family sickness.... Eli threw up while Christian was reading him the goodnight story, so I took him to the tub... while I was in there with Eli, I felt sick and had to call Christian in to watch E so I could up-chuck,.... well about 8 hours later at 4 AM Christian started at it too! After Eli threw up, he was fine,... did not act like a sick baby at all. He went right to bed and in the morning just wanted to play.... which was NOT how Christian and I felt. So we made a pallet in Eli's play room and let him play around us while we tried to rest. It is NOT fun to be sick and have to take care of a baby. 

Christmas 2012 

 This Christmas was very special. Not only was this Eli's first Christmas, but it was also our first Christmas as just us in the morning. Eli actually was not the first one up in our house... I woke up around 8:30 and E was still asleep. So Christian and I made some coffee and decided to start opening up our presents to each other while E slept. This was so special. We had a nice fire and really enjoyed each other. Christian had wrote me a special love letter for Christmas, that was the best present ever. I am now expecting one yearly! LOL But we finally decided to wake Eli up around 9:30. Then we showed him his presents, skyped Christian's family then headed over to Gulf Breeze for breakfast and gifts with my family!

Christmas morning playing with the boxes with Gma 

Going for a ride!

Day after Christmas with the cousins in Birmingham

Playing on the walker at Mamaw's house

Christmas day playing with Uncle Muscles' slack line

Eli trying out the slack line

Christmas morning with Super Cool 

Up in Birmingham playing guitar with daddy and  Super Cool

cousin fun

Eli and his 2nd cousin Vivi

Eli loves music!

Vivi helping Eli walk :) 

My sweet boys cuddling <3

Loving on Uncle Muscles 

All bundled up for the cold snowy Tennessee

"We got this baby thing!"

The Christmas tree in Tennessee

Sleepy buddy!

Slave cabin 

Aunt Amae-mae helping on the drive, Eli loved having a buddy in the backseat :) Eli dutifully watched all the One Direction videos that Auntie had for him :)  

"I don't think I am ready to fall asleep yet"

Eli is drawn to the guitar like a moth to a flame

Hey Suga! I woff you

Can babies have popcorn? Just watch out for the kernels! 

Sweet boy playing 

Cuddling with Gma

On Saturday's Christian takes Eli over to the Home Depot while I get to sleep in (yay!) During this time I don't get to pick out Eli's outfit, and often Christian just takes him out in his PJ's *sigh* At least he is warm.

James turned 14!