5 months old!

Eli became 5 months old on January 18th!

Some things Eli is up to at this time...

Loves:

1. being in the exersaucer
2. silly faces/noises
3. bath time
4. mirrors
5. playing with his feet
6. squawking
7. being on his *back* in his activity gym
8. car rides
9. simon/macy/small living things that move in general
10. chewing on literally anything that will fit in his mouth
11. watching people talk
12. books (chewing on, of course)
13. sitting in the bumbo

He has not yet rolled from his back to his front.  He has rolled front to back a total of 9 times.  He has to be reeeeally motivated to do it.  Otherwise he's pretty content on his back and can't be bothered to roll around.

He has also been practicing "sitting up".  He can tripod sit for a few seconds and sometimes can balance himself the old fashioned way but obviously, being only 5 months old, he just tips over, haha.  I'm hoping he can sit up ;ong enough for his 6 month photos, which I am working on scheduling!

Eli on his 5 month birthday!

Here is a pretty crappy job on a panorama of Eli's room as it currently stands.  I ignored currently standards and got some crib bedding with a bumper pad.  In his case, I am more worried about his leg getting stuck in the bars than suffocating, as he was waking up many nights kicking the side of his crib.  Plus it's super cute and I got the entire set for $35 at Once Upon a Child!

Also, still no tooth yet, and he hasn't had any solid foods.  I'm planning on starting that after talking with his pediatrician about the best options at his 6 month checkup!

*Also to note, I recently received a mother/baby scale and according to it Eli weighs TWENTY POUNDS. if that's true, he gained almost 3 entire pounds in about a month and a week.

*Correction: He weighs 18.8 pounds.  I tried it a few more times.  It makes more sense, especially since he has had a cold this ENTIRE month so far and hasn't been eating as much as usual.

lately.

I am going to be honest, lately I have been having a lot of negative thoughts.

Eli has had a cold for about a week and a half now and for me that means only a few broken hours of sleep a night.  I'm tired.  I'm really, really tired.

Over the past couple years I've followed a lot of blogs.  These are usually the blogs of people who, to me, appear to have their lives together.  They are the type of people that cook all their meals from scratch (organic, of course...probably locally grown, too), build their own furniture, and still have time to look like supermodels while raising multiple children.

Initially (you know, before I had a babe of my own) this was really inspiring because hey! I would totally love to be that kind of mom!

Except...then I had a kid.

And every day is a lot like treading water, just trying to stay afloat.  I don't have time/energy/will to do all those things that looked so inspiring pre-baby.  Don't get me wrong, having a baby is really awesome.  But it's also really a lot of work.

And I'm tired.

Now those blogs that once inspired me kind of annoy me.  I am envious of their ability to even make their lives have the appearance of being so together.

I am annoyed because my husband doesn't come home from work and immediately become involved with our child.  He usually gets on the computer and we don't have a real conversation.  I am annoyed because if I even make it to the grocery store and buy fresh ingredients to make something for dinner, I usually don't even do anything with said ingredients and then they rot, and then I throw them away. I am annoyed because I get on Facebook and see friends post statuses complaining that their baby didn't sleep that night when my baby has slept through the night two or three times since I brought him home from the hospital (and for the record...through the night means 6+ hours...we've done 7).  I'm annoyed because I have bags under my eyes and no amount of concealer can hide the fact that I just need a freaking nap.  Mostly I'm annoyed because I can't choose to be happy despite these things.

I guess my New Years resolution should be to just "deal with it" in a positive way.  I don't know exactly what that would look like in my life, but when I do, I'll let you know...

Merry Christmas!

We had a really good first Christmas with Eli.   For the record, Christmas is about 1000x better with a baby.  The above photos are of Eli with my little cousin, Chloe, who will be 3 at the beginning of next month.  She is totally into Eli and I think it's too sweet.  She didn't even make a fuss when he started ripping her hair!

4 months!

As of 12:52 on the 18th, my baby boy is 4 months old!

Here are some photos from the past month:

Hanging out.

First play date with the rest of the currently birthed 3A babies.

Bumbo-ing it up in front of the Christmas tree in his Santa bib.  How festive.

I like to think in this picture he is saying, "What the, mom!  I'm in my diaper!"

Officially 4 months old!

Waiting for dad to get home.

Going after his feet.

Eli's 4 month measurements:

length - 27 1/4 inches!

weight - 17 pounds 3 ounces!

90-95 percentiles for all measurements

Things Eli enjoys at 4 months:

- Watching Simon

- Grabbing anything he can get his hands on (especially momma's hair)

- Grabbing his feet

- Sitting up (with aids, obviously)

- Watching mom and dad talk :)

- Looking in mirrors

- Bath time (still)

- Chewing on toys, his sleeves, or people's hands

- Car rides

- Shopping (he likes to watch the lights and different scenery passing)

We also suspect Eli is teething, though no tooth can be felt yet.  He drools incessantly and has some very cranky times...also trouble sleeping.  He has started waking up several times a night again crying out, which we assume is because he is in pain.  Hopefully this passes soon because we could all use a little more sleep around here :)

resolutions?

January first is exactly twenty-four days away.  This year I am actually setting some goals for myself, because since having a baby I feel a lot of the time my life is out of control and at the end of the day I realize all I really did was survive.

So, without further ado, my list of goals for the new year...

+ Get into shape.  I mean, duh.  Isn't this on everyone's list every year?  But this year it is a little more important to me.  Post-baby body needs it.  I am actually just a few pounds shy of my pre-pregnancy weight, which was a goal I had for myself by the end of the year, but I still can't fit into some of my pants.  My hips don't lie.

+ Choose my favorites and start printing from the zillions of photos I've taken of Eli and arranging them into some kind of coherent album we can enjoy in the coming years.

+ Get that blog crap up and running.  I talk about it sometimes.

+ I really want to make/start a quilt.  I've never done this before, but I feel like I could do it.  I was thinking it would be nice to make one for Eli's first big boy bed, thus giving myself a couple years...and a smaller quilt :)

+ Be thankful for what I already have and stop wanting so much.  I mean, I know Thanksgiving has come and gone so I'm a bit fashionably late but I keep finding myself in these modes where I think I need to obtain things and make my life look a certain way and I'll be happier.  Not true, guys, not true.  I think we all know this but it's hard not to get caught up in it.

+ Rekindle and build new friendships.  I am a pretty introverted person.  Since I was a kid I basically have only kept one or two people close at a time.  It's been a long time since I have really felt connected to and able to be completely myself around another person (aside from Rob, obv).  I'm not a social butterfly, my post-college jobs have been nanny positions so I haven't made friends with colleagues, and now I am a stay at home mom in a neighborhood full of old people.  

Stuff like that.

And to close, here's a picture of Eli lounging in his bouncy seat while I was doing something in the kitchen.  Seriously, I looked over and the kid had his feet crossed and his arm behind his head watching the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" show.  Please ignore the unfinished baseboards.

THXGVNG

So, this past year has been the most notable yet, and so I thought I might reflect on the things I have been super thankful for during the past twelve months -

1. A healthy pregnancy.  When I first found out I was pregnant, I worried a lot about miscarriage, gestational diabetes, birth defects...I think all women do to some extent.  I was lucky to have smooth sailing basically the whole way, and a healthy baby boy in the end.

2. Obviously...Eli.  I am for real, having a baby changes the way you see yourself and everything around you.  He has completely turned our world upside down and I honestly cannot even imagine how we ever did life before him.  

3. Our family, all of who are kind and generous and supportive to the nth degree.

4. Rob and his rockin' ability to find good jobs.  Rob went through a briefly tumultuous job situation right around the time Eli was born.  I hadn't been working since May, and so I was a little worried about our financial situation.  However, as he has managed to do again and again, he found an even better job, that paid $17k more a year and has way better benefits, and we are even more financially stable.  We have been EXTREMELY blessed to have no trouble paying all of our bills and saving all under one income.

5. Friends.  I mean, yeah.  Especially friends that are still cool to hang out with us even when our baby poops all over when we are out for dinner (obviously that means you, Paige Jessee and Jarrod Geary :)

6. The gym.  Yeah, I am trying to do the gym thing again.  It's hard with a baby.  I can't go as long as I'd like and I'm more tired when I start, but cardio exercise makes me feel 1000x better about myself and the world around me.  It also helps me fit into my pants better, which is good, too.

7. SLEEP.  Eli is sleeping better now.  Through the night?  Ehh, he's done it three times now.  Usually he wakes up once.  But it's only once, and he's back to bed within 15 minutes.  This gives me hope for the future!

8. Restaurants that are fast, and close by.  I am mostly referencing Chipotle, here.  Mostly I never want to cook, and I love that we can just pick up dinner out and Rob doesn't even judge me.  Honestly, he probably prefers it.

9.  Our house, which is almost finished.  Probably you know we are renovating our basement.  That process is moving along slowly but when that is done, it is going to be THE BEST.  Can't wait.  Also, I am thankful that my parents rent us our house and do stuff like renovate the basement just because we'd prefer it.  That's convenient.  

10.  I am thankful for God.  I don't always talk about being a Christian and stuff, but I am, and therefore I credit all the aforementioned blessings to Him.  

3 months!

Ok, so Eli is 3 months old as of yesterday.  Here are some photos from the month of November...

Babies are so cute when they're bundled up.

Lounging in the bath...which he goes crazy in.  For real, there is water splashed everywhere by the end of bath time.

Meeting other babies...this is my friend Brittany's son, Cael (just a few weeks younger).

Hanging out with Dad in the morning.

Lounging on the couch.

Getting a little closer to fitting into his hat :)

Officially 3 months old, battle wounds included.

Great-grandpa Santel was visiting from Georgia and spent an afternoon with Eli.

Eli and his dad after some tummy time.

Things Eli enjoys at 3 months:

Bath time/splashing (still)

Looking at mirrors

Watching TV (yep.)

Being sung to

Smiling/being smiled at

Chatting

Kicking his legs

Watching Simon

Things Eli now hates that he used to like:

Tummy time.

He really hates it.

Proof:

And he's even cheating with a Boppy.  Oh well.

(The only thing that was helping at all was that Toy Story 3 was on TV)