10-11-06 Update: little man is turning one...insert cliche.
towards the end of our pregnancy with Eli, i was offered countless words of wisdom and pieces of advice from friends and foes alike. two jewels i came away with that have proven to be true are as follows:
1. in no-time flat you'll wonder what you ever did without this little booger
2. time will fly
...boy has time flown. i actually got a bit misty this past weekend when i walked in to find Amy packing away Eli's pj's that didn't fit him any more. he is so much fun. i tell Amy quite often that THIS is my favorite stage...so much more fun than the last because he's so much more interactive/responsive/etc. however, I say that about once/month...good thing, right? this little guy is my heart...my soul incarnate.
oh...the rocking horse. this was/is officially Eli's first birthday gift. our neighbor, Raymond, made this with his own bare hands. very cool. Eli loves it...mommy and daddy love watching Eli love it.
4-28-06 Update: So Eli's been a bit cranky lately...isn't eating well, not much napping going on, kinda wearing his momma out. Last night I sat him in his high chair around 8:30 for a bowl of yummy rice cereal. He's really been doing well on eating the cereal...very messy as some of the pictures will attest, but eating it nonetheless. So I sit him in his chair, he's pretty happy to be there, and I get him to open nice and wide for his first bite of cereal. This is very good news because he's usually pretty unsure through the first 3-4 bites. Anyway, I start praising him and telling him "Good bite Eli! Good job to open your mouth!" All of a sudden, his face wrenches into the most pathetic, pain riddled expression and he begins to wail...not cry, but wail. He has tears streaming down his cheeks and this poor kid is obviously not having fun anymore. I unstrap him from the chair and momma picks him up to settle him down. He eventually does settle down but he keeps doing that little head jerk/quick breath thing you do when you're having a good cry...very sad.
So, Amy and I are trying to figure out what's caused this little episode. He's had an ear infection, but this didn't fit that category at all. Amy eventually called her friend Sara who is a PA (and a darn good one at that) who came over to check him out. She looked at his ears...they looked great. She used the tongue depressor and scoped out his throat...everything's fine. Finally, she sticks her finger in his mouth to feel for teeth and...WHATDOYAKNOW!?!?!?! HE'S GOT A STINKING BOTTOM TOOTH...all the way through the gum!...And it only took a doctor to figure it out for us. Sheesh!
So...we whip out the tylenol, make a quick run to the store for some teething rings and ambesol, and the little guy's doing fine. He didn't sleep incredibly well last night, but it wasn't as bad as the night before. I'm taking this afternoon off and the three of us are headed to Enid to take some 6-month pictures.
4-26-06 Update: Holy cow...you've got to be kidding me! This kid will be 6 months old tomorrow! Eli is sitting up like a champ and smiling/laughing all the time. He still struggles to nap, and we're still swaddling him every night and hoping for a good night's sleep. The evening baths and schedule have been a good thing, however, we're now working on ear infection #2...but we think we caught this one quite a bit earlier than round 1, thanks to Amy's Supermom abilities.
These have been the fastest, most fulfilling 6 months of my entire life. My goal/prayer/hope from the start has been to never wish away a single moment...to take in as much as I can...to be as involved as possible...and to love this little guy with all of my heart. So far, I think Amy and I both are doing a pretty darn good job.
4-6-06 Update: We've started giving Eli a bath every night to help him relax...hoping that this will help him sleep a bit better through the night. So far it seems to have helped improve the situation...not fixed, but at least improved. Last night, I bathed him, got him his last bottle of the evening, and was working on getting him to sleep. Normally, we like to "aim" for putting him down around 9:30ish. However, last night he had other ideas. He took about a 30 minute nap around 8:00pm and this seemed to really charge his batteries...live and learn, huh? Anyway, at least he was awake and happy vs. awake and fussy. He was giggling and really hamming it up for the camera...got some decent shots in his Bumbo and nightgown. Amy let me go on to bed around midnight...still not sure what time she got to bed.
2-14-06 Update: I received a Valentine's Day card this morning from Eli via email...merely 3 1/2 months old and already a master of MS Publisher & email...very advanced little boy ;)
Eli continues to entertain his mommy and daddy, grinning, smiling, and giving his new-found vocal chords a good old-fashioned workout on a regular basis. He really enjoys hearing himself talk and squeal. He's weighing in at nearly 14 1/2 lbs. and, as you can see, already has the smile of a future heartbreaker.
1-12-06 Update: Eli got his 2-month shots yesterday...screamed pretty loud and hard according to mommy. He weighed in at a very healthy 12 lbs. He's in the 50th percentile for length, weight and head circumfrence.
12-16-05 Update: Eli is weighing in at an impressive 10 lbs. Mom is very happy, and we have been using the wonderful baby scale sent to us by Eli's Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Daniel to gauge exactly how much milk he gets at each of his feedings. Mom and Dad have really enjoyed watching Eli figure out how to work his smiler...as he will often grin and talk to us after filling his belly with yummy milk.
