Little Traveler

So we went with the Kunkels and a huge group of their friends to Kentucky for the weekend. While we were there we went on, what I was told, a little hike. I put Eli in his sling and straped him to my body. I didn't think it would be a big deal to take him with us, he would sleep the whole time and everything would be just fine. So as we began our hike everything was great then we started to get to some really rocky spots, but I just trucked right through the tough spots. Then we get to a cave with lots of water and very low spots too. And the fun didn't stop there - we went down the Devil's Backbone. That was probably the scariest part of the whole hike. We had to walk down backwards so I would not fall forward with the weight of Eli especially since at this point he was awake and wanting his arms out of the sling and giving out some excited shouts. Enjoy these crazy pictures of our interesting trip.

Eli's First Birthday!!!

I can not believe my baby boy is one year old. It has been a long, stressful, yet wonderful year. Eli has overcome so much from a hyrnia, surgery, not sleeping, ear infections, stomach flu, and some many more things to come. We are so excited to see where this year will take us and what new things Eli will bring to our lives. He is picking up more and more everyday. He says all kinds of words such as mama, dada, baba, dog, and so many more. He is not walking just yet, but we are getting closer everyday. We had an Elmo party since Eli loves Elmo so much. Stephanie made a wonderful Elmo cake for the party.

Eli has been growing up so much over the last few weeks. He is making all kinds of sounds: mama, dada, ball, shhhh, elmo (or very close to it). He loves watching Sesame Street and gets really excited when Elmo's World comes on, he does the sign for touch down, and loves his baths. He is still very little, about 20 lbs and really short for being almost 1 year. He just got over an ear infection and really nasty sounding cough, but doing much better now. He is finally starting to sleep in his own bed and sleeping through the night. Last night we put him down in his crib and he slept all night without anyone putting him back to sleep and was still out when I left for work this morning!!! Enjoy some wonderful pictures of our little bundle of boy.

You see him here with his new favorite toys. We will sit him down in this box and zoom around like a race car. And here is his real toy car that he can ride on and walk with.

I love this kid. Here I am working on teaching him to share his toys with me.

Eli the Magnificant!!!

Here is my beautiful baby boy. Everyone seems to think this picture is kind of funny, but for some reason it is by far one of my favorite pictures of Eli as a newborn.












I love when babies find their feet so I have been waiting for a picture like this for months!!!

Here is my cute little snow bunny out in the snow for the first time. I tried to write Merry Christmas 2007 around him to make a Christmas card, but he got very upset that I left him in the snow for more then a breif second to take this picture.

A couple weeks ago as I was feeding Eli he suddenly discovered that he was capable of spitting and with every bite of carrots and peas I gave him most of it ended up spit all over my face. The first time he did it I was really taken by surprise especially since I was sitting rather close to him - I was covered. And this other picture is the fun we had immediately following the spit explosion.

Bath time has become so fun lately since Eli really enjoys taking baths now. He splashes and kicks water everywhere. The other day when he was in the tub I gave him the sponge to play with for just a moment and it wasn't but a second when I realized he had eaten a huge chunk! I take it away and quickly check his mouth for lime green sponge and found nothing. About 5 mins later he stops playing, gives me a strange look, and throws up. It really scared me, but then I looked at what had just come out and there I found that huge missing piece of sponge, perfectly intact. As soon as that was over he continued playing in the water like nothing had even happened. Oh, the joys of motherhood.

Happy Holidays

This was Eli's first Christmas and it was wonderful. We were able to work it out so that we could see all of the extended family as well as make it home to have our own Christmas together. Eli of course had no idea what all the fuss was about opening presents.
Of course we would hand him one and begin to open it hoping he would be interested in trying to rip into it himself, but he simply wanted to chew on the bows. Having a child makes Christmas feel completely different. Of course it was exciting to get my own presents, but it was far too much fun to watch Eli play with his new toys or the boxes they came in. Enjoy these pictures from our first Christmas with Eli!!! Eli is almost 9 months and we are guessing he is somewhere around 19-20 lbs.

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