Happy Feet

Eli's first Halloween was oh so cute. He went as a penguin which we found last minute and thought it was perfect! We didn't go trick or treating, but we made it to the grandparents' houses to pay a visit. Eli tried his hand at giving out candy, but each piece only made it as far as his own mouth. The kids didn't seem too interested in those pieces.... hummm... Joe and I decided last minute to find costumes to wear and we went as Grease characters, even though we really didn't look much like what we had hoped. Anyway, we had fun and it was cute. Can't wait until next year when Eli will be excited about dressing up and going out.
Here are a couple pictures from Eli's first Halloween!

Wow, Eli is growing and changing so fast. So several things have happened since our last blog. Joe and I took Eli to his first Yeand family reunion at the cabin on Rough River in Kentucky. It was a 5 hour drive and on the way there he was crying quite a bit. But while there amoung the many nurses and mothers they managaed to get Eli to sleep in a pack 'n play by himself. It was amazing getting to 2 nights of sleep in the same bed as my husband without a baby crying all night. However, once we got home he decided he didn't like his pack 'n play. It was good while it lasted. A couple days after we got back Eli had a checkup for his surgery. Amy took the bandage off and it looked great. Then the same day he got his shots! He was so mad about that, but did a lot better then I expected him to once we got home.
He continues to smile more and more and is awake longer throughout the day. He is now 3 months old and still giving us quite a problem with the sleep routine. He does not want to be alone for long at all. So Joe and I are still switching off being next to him half the night each. Everyone keeps telling us different things on how we SHOULD be dealing with this problem and that we should just let him be by himself and cry. But it kills us to let him do that since Joe has to work in the morning and has to get some sleep and Eli doesn't give me a chance to sleep during the day so we are just surviving the sleeping issues for now.
In the past couple days he has started to stick his tongue out all the time when he's happy and it is so cute.

Eli Update: 13 weeks old, 12 lbs

Picture Update #1

Here are some more pictures if you can't get enough!

Got Milk?

Well, this has been quite a week. It started off bad with me running a high fever over the weekend through Monday. Then it was a busy week with getting ready for Steph and Tom's wedding running back and forth from Indy, doing nails, having lunches, rehearsal and dinner, then finally the big day. Joe and I turned over Eli to the grandparents for 2 whole nights while we remained in Muncie for the wedding extravaganza! It was both stressful and wonderful not having Eli connected at my hip for 2 1/2 days. So I went to get ready for the wedding at the church, I pumped twice be fore going out for the ceremony and of course I begin leaking in the dress before we even walk out. Thankfully, it was not going all the way through so no one could tell but me! Sitting in a wet dress through the whole celebration, then pictures, then the first dance and cutting of the cake I finally ran to the bathroom to pump and change into another dress I had brought just in case. As I stand in the stall my batteries die so there was no pumping. I change clothes and within an hour I had leaked all the way through the new dress and it was more obvious then the last, but I couldn't do anything about it so I didn't. Lesson learned: ALWAYS BRING BACK UP BATTERIES!!!

So on Sunday we trucked it home to prepare for the dreaded surgery. Bright and early Monday morning we made our way to St. Vincent's and with Eli now in his 4th hour of not eating when he normally he eats every 2 he was a very unhappy camper. The crazy surgent came in and drew a smiley face on his hernia. Eli was in and out of surgery in about 30mins. When he was brought to us he was so sleepy from the anastesia we were doing everything to wake him, but had no luck for probably a good 10mins or so. So, now we are home just trying to heal and he is doing much better then we thought as far as being upset. Here is a picture of Eli with his St. V's bear and his battle wound!

Eli Update: 10 lbs!!!

BANG! BANG!

This week I was having some MAJOR cabin fever while Joe was at work all day. So while Eli and I were out for a walk I saw a wonderful little spot for a picnic. I called up Jess and her son Alex and Sarah and her daughter Ella to meet for a mommy and me outing for the next day. We met and set up camp in a green and shady spot where we were away from everything. It was wonderful being able to have this little support group of first time moms to meet with and swap stories. Alex is the oldest, born Feb., then Ella in March, followed by Eli in April so they are all so close that we are going through many of the same things at the same time. Since we are all nursing moms we all have a baby on a boob and out of nowhere this college aged guy dressed in all camo walks right up to us and tells us he is apart of ROTC and will be doing some training in the grassy area a few yards from us but that we were fine where we were. So all around these three nursing moms are about 15 big ROTC guys running around, yelling BANG! BANG! and tackling other guys wearing black ski masks. It was quite a sight, we didn't know we were getting dinner and a show!!
Last weekend while Tonya was out at a bachlorette party I got to keep Eli all night! We had a couple of my friends from college over to meet Eli for the first time. It was a late night and when Tonya came home in the morning she let us sleep in until noon.

"You're never fully dressed without a smile"

This week Eli purposely smiled for the first time!! It was such a great feeling to be looking at him and he had a full, mouth open, toothless smile. Joe and I were just sitting in bed talking to him and there it was. Hopefully next time we can get him to do it long enough to get a picture.

We went on a picnic at Minnetrista again this week and while sitting in the grass with not a person in sight I had to feed Eli. Laying on the blanket to feed him in a side laying position here comes this little dog running full speed towards us with a man of about 35 running after it. I try to gather up Eli and myself to not to become victim to the dog and the man is right there just in time for a little show. He quickly apologized and continued running and the dog followed not missing a beat.

Unfortunately, Eli now has cradle cap, but its not on his head... he has it on his ears, which I didn't know could happen. We had been bathing him and using the curry comb we were given at the hospital to prevent the cradle cap, but I can't very well use it on his ears! We have been bathing him everyday now and it seems to be much better.

Hernia Sighting!

Well, we started off the week with a trip to the doctor on Monday and she looked at Eli’s hernia and decided to send us to a pediatric surgeon in Indy the following day for a consultation. He was a strange guy with his Harry Potter glasses, Mr. Roger’s sweater over his blue scrubs that he had tucked into his brown cowboy boots. Despite his attire Joe and I really liked him. He set Eli up for the surgery to repair the hernia on June 4th at 8am. Man, this kid just can’t catch a break! We are praying this surgery will fix much of his obvious discomfort.

Extreme May 13, Celebration: 2007

Today was a grand celebration of many things: my first Mother’s Day,our first wedding anniversary, and Eli’s baptism. The baptism Mass was perfect; we had so many people there to see his first sacrament. He wore the baptismal gown that was first worn by his great grandpa Kunkel and he was wrapped in the white blanket I was covered with at my baptism.

Everything was going so well and as soon as Fr. John placed wet, naked Eli into the towel Chris was holding Eli had the loudest toot and we all lost it including Fr. John. It was such a strange, but wonderful feeling to have everyone telling me “Happy Mother’s Day”. Looking back of the past year it went so fast. I can’t believe we have already been married a year and have a child! What a perfect way to celebrate a perfect year. Here's a look at a year ago today.

Papa's Visit

This week my dad made his way all the way from Florida to see Eli. He stayed in town for a couple days sleeping on our couch. It was so fun watching him hold Eli and listen to him talk to him. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw my dad hold a baby other then my brother years and years ago so it was so cute seeing them together.

Eli Update: 7lbs 14oz

Family Fun

This week we took our first walk through Minnetrista and the weather was perfect so we took some family photos which you can see posted here. Joe is back to work full time and we are working on getting into a routine, but there are still many sleepless nights.
Eli Update: 7lbs 3oz, 19 ¼ inches

"What's that, baby communion?"

This week has been interesting since Joe has been going back to work for half days at noon and I have been home trying to figure out how to manage myself and a baby! We continued to take Eli in for bili checks and his level began going down and by Sunday he was off the blanket!! We took Eli to Mass for the first time and of course I feed him before we leave and then as soon as we walk into the church he is hungry again. So Joe and I sat out in the narthex attempting to modestly breast feed in public for the first time. I was all covered and doing well when our friend, Jacob, walks up and this conversation takes place:

Jacob: Where’s the baby?
Tonya: Under the blanket.
Jacob: (moving toward me and beginning to lift the blanket) Well, let’s see him…
Tonya: What are you doing?! (Jacob realizing why Eli is under the blanket throws it back down and steps back)
Jacob: (picking up my breast pad) What’s this? Baby’s toy communion?
Tonya: No, that’s my breast pad (Jacob throwing down the pad and freaking out for touching it)

Oh the crazy friends we have!!



Eli Update: 6lbs 2oz

Attack of the Jaundice: 4-8-07

Eli wasn’t home but about 2 days before they decided he had to have a bili blanket on 17-20 hours a day to help his jaundice level go down. When we left the hospital he was at 10.7, just under the line for them to send us home with a blanket, but after a couple days he went up to 14. We had to take him into the doctor to have his bili levels drawn everyday and it finally got up to 18.6 and we began to get worried since at 20 they said they would admit him to the hospital to be placed under a bili light. So we are just patiently waiting for him to get over this hurdle so we can try to get things to normal around here. We have had lots of help from the families, especially the wonderful grandmothers for whom we are so blessed to have! Thanks again for all your help.

Eli Update: 5lbs 12oz

FYI

Hey here's an update, we are going to be updating pics on a regular basis on this link below. So if you want more pictures of him feel free to go there and get them!

http://www.pickle.com/jrkunkel/103

We will put an update post up soon I promise!

Eli's Coming!! 4-2-2007

From Daddy:





I can't believe this day is finally here. I am so excited I get two weeks off so I can enjoy this time with Tonya and our new baby. We got to stay overnight and I gotta say I'm glad i had a place to sleep. They really do it right here, a nice bed for tonya plus a couch for me! The night before was pretty uneventful, tonya had to get some medicine but clearly we would need rest tonight beause who knows what the next day will bring. When we woke up in the morning, Tonya got the petosin which will help hopefully induce Tonya. Most of the day for me I was just waiting and helping tonya get through the contractions. She wanted to wait as long as possible to get the epideral so she had to go through some pretty hard contractions. The worst was the epideral, I couldn't watch because the pain she was in. However, once the epideral kicked in it was amazing. Tonya was in good spirits (besides her incessant shaking which was crazy) and when contractions hit she didn't even feel it. And then it happened. All of a sudden the nurse said we were ready and I saw our baby's hairy head crowing and I was overcome with joy. After 5 contractions our little boy came out. Tonya was so exhausted and overjoyed and I couldn't hardly contain myself.

From Mommy:

After nine LONG months of a difficult pregnancy he is finally here! I was scared to death about labor and delivery, but it was surprisingly not nearly as bad as I had imagined. I had planned on holding off as long as possible before getting an epidural and a nurse came in to ask if I wanted it at a point where the contractions were not bad so I asked to wait a little longer. She told me the man who could do it would be in a c-section for the next 20-30 mins if I could wait that long so I said of course. Once the nurse left the room almost immediately my contractions were hitting the top of the chart and the c-section was prolonged and I labored without the drugs for 1 hr 1/2 before he could get to me. Once I was ready to push I was talking to everyone and feeling great. I only pushed through 5 contractions and about 20 mins later Eli was here!

Eli Joseph Kunkel:

Born April 2nd, 2007 5:41pm

6lbs 8oz, 18 1/2 inches

Hello World!

Welcome to our weekly update where you can follow the happenings of our new family. Here we will provide you with stories, pictures and things we learned from the week before. We feel this will be a great way to not only keep you informed, but will also help us keep a journal/timeline of our lives with Eli. We hope you enjoy!