Eli Thursday

9 weeks

Eli was blessed with a herd of doting uncles and aunts on my side. I think he kinda likes them too.

Eli Thursday

8 weeks

Funny how my favorite picture of him this week was shot from the hip without checking the settings first. It's hard to catch that happy little smirk of his since it comes and goes so quickly. 

He had surgery on Tuesday to help straighten out his foot. I'm really happy to see him back to his cheery old self again after having a rough couple of days. 

Eli Thursday

First things first: Yes, I know it isn't Thursday, and yes, I am shamelessly copying Jen.

Now that we have that cleared up, welcome to the first edition of Eli Thursday. (Tangent: I was hoping to come up with something more catchy or clever but since the only thing I could think of was Eli Erryday I decided to stick with Eli Thursday for obvious reasons. End tangent.) The idea is that I post a picture or two every Thursday, partially to help me remember to not only take pictures with my real camera, but actually do something with them besides just let them sit on my computer. I'm hoping to stick with it for a year and then print them off and put them in an album. We'll see how it goes, eh?

Week 7

He's my little workout buddy. He loves the stroller and slept the whole time, except for when I peeked in the canopy a couple times and he glared at me as if to say, "Hey, you're letting in the light. Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?" 

I just started exercising this week and boy howdy, am I out of shape. I don't care as much about getting down to my pre-pregnancy weight as I do about being able to do stuff like play frisbee and go hiking without getting exhausted after 10 minutes. Going walking/running (let's be honest, there ain't much running) with him helps though since the faster I move the better he sleeps. 

I guess I better play catch-up since I'm starting this so late, so... here's the past 6 weeks too.

Week 1

He loves being Eli's daddy and it makes me happy.

Week 2

Sleepy smiles. The best.

Week 3

He really loves being photographed, can't you tell? That kid has killer brows.

Week 4

Such a champ with his first cast (which is to straighten out his club foot, and not because we let him play in the street. I know you were wondering.).

 Week 5

This kid loves to stretch, and makes the goofiest faces when he does it.

Week 6

Meeting great-grandma Carmen, Dallin's (97-year-old!) grandma.

This makes it worth it

Eli has started sleeping much better lately, usually around 5-7 hours of solid sleep a night before waking up to eat. I'm starting to feel a little more human, and I'm very thankful for that!

He sleeps in his bouncer (it's the only comfortable position with his cast) in our room, but in the morning I often pull him into our bed so I can nurse him laying down, and then I keep him there because he is so snuggly and sweet that I don't want to put him back. 

I mean, just look at him. 

I love to snuggle up close with my nose to his head so I can soak up that sweet baby smell and kiss his soft little cheeks. And when I look over and see my other handsome boy sleeping next to me, I can't help but think about how lucky I am to have them both and it makes me so happy.

Even though I'm exhausted and stressed, and being a new mom is really hard sometimes, I find that all those things leave my mind when I make sure to enjoy peaceful moments like this when they come. 

And they always come, especially just when I feel like I'm about to go bonkers. Thank the heavens above for that.

"I'll try again tomorrow."

It's one of "those" days. You know, the one where your baby manages to spit up a large amount of sour milk down your crew-neck shirt right before you were going to run an important errand, an errand that never did end up getting done. Or where you are exhausted the whole day after a long, sleepless night. Or where your poor baby is fussy because of his uncomfortable cast, and since all he wants is to nurse and be snuggled that's your #1 priority, even though it means important things aren't getting done. Or where you don't get a chance to make and eat a real meal all day. Or where you're struggling with some post-partum hormones. Or where you don't get a chance to take a desperately needed, long-overdue shower. Or when your baby starts crying RIGHT as you get to the grocery store. Or when your husband has appointments after work so he can't help. Or when a major blow-out begins Act II in the middle of the already messy diaper change. Or when all these things happen in one day and, combined with the already-present load of stress, make you want to crawl under the covers with a carton of ice cream, but then you realize you already finished it off for your oh-so healthy mid-morning snack and that you don't even have any chocolate in the house (gasp!).

Okay, okay. Pity party over. ;)

I came across this on facebook today and it struck a chord with me.

You know what, sometimes days (and nights) are hard, but as Anne Shirley said, "tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet" (or something like that) and that's comforting to know, ain't it? Here's hoping tomorrow is better.

Smiley boy

Eli started smiling at us a couple of weeks ago, but he flashes them so quickly they are usually gone by the time we bust out a camera. We have managed to capture a few of them, though!

I love this silly boy.