happy 6 weeks!

Happy 6 weeks of life outside the womb to this sweet boy!

I can hardly believe it's already been a month and a half.  I have my 6 week check up at the doctor on Monday and then hopefully won't have to go back to that place for quite a while.  

It's my October goal to get Eli on some sort of schedule.  Problem is, I am the worst with schedules.  I have never been good at organizing my life but I hope I will get it together now that I have someone who depends on me to do so.  Anyway, he slept for 4 hours straight last night!!  I know this is supposed to be happening, generally, around this age, but not for our little one.  In fact, when I woke up at 5 AM and realized he hadn't woke up once since I had last fed him I kind of freaked out and was worried something was wrong.  Not to worry, all is well.

Another October goal is to get Eli's nursery FINISHED.  Somewhat, anyway.  All of his clothes are scattered about his crib because we haven't really bothered to put them away.  There is no door on his closet, still.  Rob's office stuff is still in the room.  Geesh.  It's annoying.  Anyway...we need to get the room done because once we've established some routine (asap) Eli needs to move into his crib.  Baby boy is too big for his bassinet and I'm scared to co-sleep.  

TGIF

Thank God.

I think I love the weekends now even more than I did when I was working.  I love having our little family together and to be honest everything is a lot easier for me with Rob around all day.

In other news, what is in the air in northern Kentucky right now?  Why is it ruining my life?  Curse you, allergies.

Today my brother came over (since he is home!!!!!!!!!) because he needed to use my laptop battery.  He broke his laptop in the UK and we have the same one and he was dying to get all his data transferred to his desktop (and iPhone, which he also broke and has had to replace since being home).  So he was over for a couple hours this morning.  Then young sir and I went to TJ Maxx to return a belt his dad bought in the completely wrong size, and to Target to buy our usual wood floor cleaner.  I recently bought the Method brand because I have been trying to use more environmentally friendly products.  Unfortunately Method Wood for Good is a completely sucky floor cleaner so we reverted to our Orange Glo.

Also, yesterday my baby boy wore shoes for the first time (!!!).  He had to look good to meet...

Uncle Isaac!  Hooray!  All Santels are on the same side of the Atlantic :)

P.S. I told you overalls were my favorite for little boys!

we are/have been up

Little babies with colds tend to not want to sleep.  Well, I'm sure they want to sleep but it is just too hard.  I guess we are all still sick here.

My brother, Isaac, is supposed to be coming home from London today.  He has been there since April on an internship working at a golf course.  He will finally meet Eli!

My grandpa is also coming "home".  He moved to Atlanta awhile back and is coming back to Cincinnati tomorrow to meet Eli!

My friend, Anka, is coming back to Cincinnati from her homeland of Germany.  She was an au pair over here for a family up until April and we spent a lot of time meeting up for play dates at the park, story time at the bookstore, and at the indoor playhouse in Crossroads. She can finally meet Eli!

Too bad he is not feeling so great...I will hope for a miraculous recovery in the next few hours! :)

under the weather.

So, everyone in the Chipman household has been a little under the weather in the past week.  It started with Rob's headaches, Eli has had (I'm pretty sure) a cold, possibly allergy-related sickness (I haven't taken him to the doctor...bad mom alert), and now whatever is in the air outside is punching me in the face, on repeat.

A couple nights ago I got one hour of sleep.  Yes, one.  It was murder.  The next night was not so much better so yesterday I threw in the towel and headed to my mother's so she could watch Eli while I took a nap.  Five hours later, I woke up.  It was nice.  Remind me never to move away from Cincinnati.  Mothers are angels you need close by.

Rob feels better now.  Eli is definitely better than he was a few days ago.  I may have a bit.  Let's hope it passes quickly.

I could kiss those little cheeks all day long.  And I pretty much do.

little fuss

.

I guess this is going to be one of those blogs that posts baby pictures every day.

I told myself I'd still post about other things in my life.

Turns out, I don't really have other things going on in life.

And I'm okay with that.

<3 p="p">

P.S. Overalls are my favorite for baby boys.  Also, Little Fuss is my current nickname for Eli...ha.

AS OF LATE

Amazon sent us our new activity gym...so we tried it out!

Simon has remained steadfast in his post, guarding us from all potential threats.

The occasional nap that made it all the way into the bassinet.

Sleeping on dad, part 1.

Getting teased by dad.

Sleeping on dad, part 2.

Lots of coffee consumption (in the best mug).

New crochet project.  We'll see how long this one lasts.

All the autumn scents Yankee Candle has to offer, to make our house smell glorious.

And lastly...new hair.  While the hat is convenient for slightly concealing the fact my hair is both unwashed and un-brushed, it mostly serves the purpose of hiding a bit of the second worst hair cut I've ever had.  The worst would obviously be when I wanted my hair cut like a boy when I was in the 5th grade.  

I might take the hat off in about three months.  Yikes.

*Also to note, I do not blame my hair stylist because this is how I wanted my hair cut.  I find it sad how a cut can look so good on one person, and look soooo bad on another (me).

(one month for real)

Eli and I had a little impromptu one month photo shoot in between loads of laundry.

And yes, that's a 6-month sleeper on my 1-month old baby.

We decided the lighting just wasn't working so...flash alert!  Sans clothes!

...but then I kept getting the "feed me" face so we called it a day.

Some of Eli's favorite things at one month:

+ eating, constantly

+ car rides

+ stroller rides

+ looking at light

+ being outside

+ baths 

+ tummy time

one month check-in!

Even though Eli is technically a month old tomorrow, his appointment was today.  Our little guy is 11 lbs 13 oz and is 23 inches long!  He got round 2 of the Hep B shots today and he took it like a champ.  Not only does Eli look like his dad, but I think he also inherited his mild manners and laid back personality.  He doesn't get upset too easily, which is nice.

After the appointment we went and visited little girl from the nanny job I quit in May, and her baby brother who is now 5 months old.  I could not believe how big they both are!  Obviously baby boy was much more noticeable and the crazy thing was, Eli and he were just about the same length!  It was kind of freaking me out since baby boy's head was about twice as big and he was more filled out considering he was 5 times Eli's age.  Eli is going to be a tallllllllllll one, also like his pa.

tired.

Tomorrow is our baby's one month check-up.  ONE MONTH.  What the?!  

Don't ask me if he is sleeping at night.

Because no.  No, he is not.  That one night was the one night.  I miss it.

He is actually sleeping in the bassinet next to me right now.  Though he is pretty restless.  I should probably also be sleeping, but I tend to make poor choices in that respect.

I have seriously never been so tired in my entire life.  And I'm honestly not a fan of the person it is turning me in to.  Is that sentence grammatically incorrect?  Because it's bothering me.  

Anyway.

I tend to flip out on Rob at least once a day, just to be honest.  Sleep deprivation makes me snappy and mean.  If you see Rob in public you might want to give him a hug, for moral support and whatnot.  

the best thursday morning

Oh my.  Between 10 pm and 10 am...our baby slept TEN out of TWELVE HOURS!  This is easily the greatest night we have had since his birth.

I feel like I actually have energy to deal with today.

And I have out my fall scented Yankee candle.

Maybe I'll crochet an infinity scarf?

Maybe even clean the house?

I stand a chance of DOING something today!

Yaaaay sleep!

ALSO

Dear Simon, happy one year anniversary of being our dog!  You are perhaps only slightly less skittish than the day we brought you home but we love you all the same.

a date and a discovery

Last night Rob and I went on our second-ish date since Eli was born.  The technical first was escaping for a couple hours to get out of the house where we saw our friend Kile's band, Canoes, play at the Madison Theater.  We were late and only saw them play two or three songs but it was still nice to get out.  Our date last night happened to be at the exact same place but this time to see Metric!  They were so good live and put on a really energetic show.  Basically it wouldn't have mattered because I was too busy being mesmerized by the fact that mine eyes were beholding Emily Haines live and in the flesh.  It was a really good show, though, and Rob and I enjoyed our time out.  Also it was over by a little after ten o'clock which totally worked for our new lifestyle.  My parents came over and watched Eli while we went out.  Well, I guess mainly my mom watched Eli and my dad worked some more on the basement.  Maybe one day that will be done and I can stop mentioning it.

Anyway...there was only one band that opened for Metric (perfect) and they are called Half Moon Run and they hail from Montreal.  And........OHMYGOODNESS.  They were so. good. live.  Seriously, we came home and looked up their music online and while, yes, it is still good, it doesn't even do justice to their live performance.  The singer has such a powerful, controlled, all-around freakin' beautiful voice and Rob and I were both extremely pleased, haha.  Anyway, this is apparently their first "single", according to the band, and I would highly recommend you check them out!  I love discovering new bands.  It isn't something I have been doing in quite awhile so it's nice when one just happens upon you :)

Also I have to include the song I liked the most from their set...

good things

Things that are good right now:

1. Eli slept so well last night!  I only had to get up with him twice and he slept for 7 1/2 hours!

2. Rob got a new job!  Mo money and better benefits!

3. Less than a month until I can start exercising again!  I'm 12 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight but I needed to lose about 15 before I became pregnant, so I have my work cut out for me.

4. It's almost my favorite season!  I like the back-to-school feeling even though I'm not in school anymore.

5. Rob and I have tickets to go see one of my most favorite bands, Metric, on September 9th!

6. I'm actually getting the house cleaned today!  Woo!
7. I have a for real hair appointment scheduled for next Wednesday!  At this point I have no memory of the last time I went to the salon.  I know it's been well over a year.

8.  That little face above.

...

Last night was awesome (nope).  I actually got Eli to sleep by a decent hour (11 PM), but after I got into bed I started feeling really...unwell.  This ended in me puking around for awhile before I finally felt okay to go back to bed.  Then, later on in the night, after rocking Eli back to sleep, I ran into the cradle in our living room trying to navigate through the dark and destroyed my big toe.  It hurts bad.  Real bad.

However, Eli did manage to get some decent sleepage last night, which meant I slept for a combined total of around six hours, which is decent and is pretty much twice what I normally get.  Now my parents are here because my dad is pressure washing the basement so hopefully we can move into the next phase (!!!) and finish Eli's nursery (!!!!!!!).  He also bought me a pumpkin spice latte, which was delicious and perfect and made me forget my toe hurt for a little bit.

two weeks old.

I love this baby boy.