Lunch with Daddy

Today was a fun and adventurous day. Eli & I went to Butner to have lunch with Daddy. Tim works in Butner and all the ladies in his office have been asking about Eli. I also had not seen where he works so earlier this week, I asked Tim if he'd like us to come up. This was the farthest drive I'd done with Little Man to date - took us about 35 minutes to get there. He wasn't too thrilled on the drive there b/c I had only given him a little bit to eat and he was still hungry. The pacifier did the job.....as long as he kept it in his mouth. It was really great to see Tim during the day and have lunch together. Eli went to his first fast food restaurant - Bojangles - but he stuck with his breast milk and formula diet like a good little boy. =) Then we went back to his office so all the ladies could get their baby fix. He was held and loved on like crazy. I wanted to bring one or two of the ladies back home to help me throughout the day! Everyone there was so nice; it was great to meet Tim's co-workers and put faces and names together. The drive back was great. Eli looked around for a while and then napped a bit. Home to eat again and then he took a nice long nap, pooped out from all the excitement.

Maybe next week, we'll go by my office or jobsite to see everyone. I'm getting more brave every day and itching to get out some with him. He's the cutest and I just want to show him off!!

Instructions Not Included

Sometimes don't you wish there were?

A long night of......

SLEEP. Ok, so not necessarily for us but had we gone to bed at 7pm, we would feel like champs today. Eli went to bed at 7pm and didn't get up until 1:30am, back down a little after 2am and then up slightly before 5am. That's a good night! Now if we could get him to sleep that long starting at 9pm, we'd be set. It was really a pretty easy night. Tim & I even got to sit on the couch and watch a few sitcoms together - that was a treat.

Today Eli & I took Belle to the vet. Nothing big, just a recheck of a visit last month. The vet called me yesterday to remind me of the appt, which caught me off guard. Tim had made the appt when he was there last month and forgot to tell me. No harm done, we made it to the vet - and we even made it ON TIME!! The drive to the vet and Belle's visit went well but Eli decided he wanted to scream all the way from Rolesville to our house. It was tough on my nerves but what can you do driving 70 mph down I540? We survived and once he got some food in him, he was quite happy again.

Haven't posted pictures in a while so here are some cute ones.

Playtime

S-T-R-E-T-C-H

Eli's birth announcement

Most of the birth announcements have been delivered so I can now post Eli's birth announcement. I absolutely love it!

Lunch with the Ladies (and Noah!)

Today was mine & Elijah's first lunch date. We met the girls from my PreNatal Yoga class for lunch. Robin was there with Noah, Jacque with Elizabeth and Amy came from work sans Stella. =( It was so much fun to see all of them and catch up. The last time I had lunch with them I was still pregnant, the last one to have her baby! It has been so nice to get to know these girls, keep in touch and learn from them. We're all first time Moms and sometimes it's great to get confirmation that you're not doing everything wrong, get some sympathy when you need it and just have a friend to talk to. The babies are all adorable and behaved extremely well today - they were all very happy to be out of the house and be oogled on. One day we'll be able to get together so they all can play; right now the Mommies just oogle!

Girls, great to see you all today and can't wait until the next time!

A new bedtime

Well, the arrival of Eli has brought about bedtime changes in our household. Mommy & Daddy have now adopted an earlier bedtime. We used to go to bed around 10:30pm but last night was our first night of "in the bed by 9:30pm". Eli went to bed by 9pm and we turned off the tv at 9:15pm. The last time I remember seeing on the clock was 9:38pm. I slept so great before Eli's midnight feeding. It was amazing! He was up again at 4:30am and it made for a much better night for Mommy. The earlier bedtime allowed me a much needed extra hour of sleep. So for anyone that may call or stop by, be forewarned - we turn into pumpkins at 9pm!!

Four Generations

Today Eli's Grandma and Great Grandma came to visit for a few hours. It was wonderful to have them visit and Evia allowed Grandma to spoil Eli for a few hours!

Some pictures from the visit:

Happy Grandma!

Great Grandma and Eli

Four Generations

Mommy loves me

The Truth about Breastfeeding

I have discovered the truth about breastfeeding - the one thing that they don't tell you in class. It's hard! They emphasize how good it is for your baby, it's natural, that it can help you lose weight and that you can save money over using formula. All of those things may be true - although for me, the weight loss thing hasn't really taken effect yet - but they don't tell you that it's hard. It requires a lot of time and a lot of patience. It also puts Mom on a short leash because she has the equipment (i.e. boobs) and unless she's pumping (which on a 3 hour feeding schedule and Mr. Eli not taking many naps right now, I don't know how in the world I'd pump), she's the only one that can feed the baby. In my case, I'm not able to feed Eli from breastmilk alone so I nurse and then have to supplement with formula. There were a few times last week when he was super fussy and not wanting to take a nap that I pondered just switching to formula. Why not, since I already have to do part formula anyway? Well, I'll tell you why I decided not. This is not about me; it's about what is best for the Little Guy and I know that breastmilk is what is best for him. So, I'll keep nursing as much as I can, even if it means every three hours. I know it won't be that way forever and as we all know, decisions must be made based upon what is best for our children.

My new diaper bag

I'm so excited. My new diaper bag arrived in the mail today. Ok, so it may seem silly to some of you to get excited over something like a diaper bag but I've got to look like a fairly fashionable mom when I'm out and about. I searched and searched for something I would like and that fit my personality. Believe me, it was hard! There are so many cute options if you're having a little girl but for a boy, I wanted to be careful. I purchased a solid red one then decided I didn't really want that. Then I decided I wanted a Vera Bradley but they're close to $100 so changed my mind on that. Then.....I found this one. It's quilted so it has that aspect of Vera Bradley but has a pattern that I absolutely love. Now I just have to get out and about with Little Man to use it!

Eli's first real bath

Since Eli's umbilical cord stump fell off Sunday, we were looking forward to his first real bath. Prior to this, we have sponged him off and that's just not as much fun. =) So on Monday night, we gave him a good bath.Eli cooperated pretty well and smelled all clean and cuddly when done. Here are some pictures from our fun.

Sweet Baby Designs

I found this really cool website for Baby Announcements and Christmas Cards. They actually did Eli's birth announcement for me - I won't post it just yet until I send them out. =) The people there were really nice and responded very quickly. I used their "Design only" feature and they emailed me a high resolution jpeg file to print out. If you need announcements or cards of any kind, take a look at their website.

http://www.sweetbabydesigns.com/index.html

Innie or Outie?

Tonight was a very exciting night. During one of Eli's naps, his umbilical cord stump fell off. Now he has a belly button!! We're looking forward to real bath time tomorrow night. He's down for the night now and hopefully will sleep for a few hours as he hasn't slept much today. He's been eating like a machine - guess he's at that 3 week growth spurt. I never ever imagined I would get so excited about a belly button!

Happy Grandparents Day!!

Just thought we'd wish all the grandparents out there a Happy Grandparents' Day. It's the first one for Evia's parents so it's a special day for them. Little Elijah has finally made them Grandparents!!

Sea creatures quilt

Yesterday Tim's parents came for a visit to see us - ok mainly to see Eli but we were here so they had to see us as well! They ended up doing only a day trip due to the weather expected on the NC coast. It was very nice of them to drive up for the afternoon.

They brought along some gifts for Eli. A few things from friends in Morehead City but also, the wonderfully beautiful quilt that Tim's mom has been working on for Eli. It's called "Sea Creatures" - she has such an amazing gift for putting together fabrics into a work of art. Her visions are way beyond me and are very inspiring. We're thankful that she took so much time and care to make Eli a special quilt.

Comfy on the quilt already!

Two weeks already

I can't believe Eli was 2 weeks old yesterday. I guess when you spend the first week of your life in the hospital, the second one is a joy. We did an "unofficial" weigh in on our bathroom scale yesterday and the little guy weighs about 8-1/2 pounds right now. He's not quite up to his birth weight but he's moving in the right direction.

We've been trying to play some these days and did our first tummy time yesterday. I try to let him take a few good naps during the day but also take some shorter ones so he'll sleep at night. So far that is working out well. Today we did our first errand together. I had to ship a package so we ran down to the UPS store to do that. Granted it only involved going two miles down the road, five minutes in the store and then two miles back but we did well with it! Pretty soon, I'll be hitting the road with him going all over the place.

Not too much else to report. We're figuring out his routine and the sequence of events that make him happy. He's pretty predictable.....for now. Overall we've been blessed with a very happy baby who only cries when he's wet or hungry. He doesn't even get upset when he gets the hiccups. I personally get mad when I get them but he just hiccups and bounces around. Tim is back to work so it's just me & little man now. I've been very fortunate that several of my neighbors take turns coming over to watch him so I can take a shower and eat if I haven't done that by the time they arrive. My recovery is going pretty well but I have to remind myself daily to take it easy and that it won't keep doing well if I overdo it.

Some pictures to enjoy:

Mommy & Me

It's so hard to be me!

Tummy time fun