Everyday Brings a New Change

It's been a pretty uneventful week so far, however Elijah is growing by the minute it seems.  Every day Ben comes home from work, he swears our little guy has grown and just this morning I noticed changes since yesterday! 

I think the biggest change we have seen is Elijah's sleep pattern.  Here I go jinxing myself again, but the last week has been GREAT!  Ben's been able to sleep through the night because Elijah's sleeping through the night (kind of).  He usually eats around 8:15 and is in his crib by 9:00 and we used to have another feeding around midnight, but for the past two nights, he's held off until 2:45.  These feedings are going so quick that last night, he was back in bed a little after 3:00 and slept until 7:30!  I'm certain because I've documented how great he has been, tonight we'll have a horrible night, but it's still early so I can prepare all day!

Another change I have noticed this week is that Elijah is becoming more happy on his tummy.  He gets about three 5 minutes sessions each day on his tummy, but he's been increasing the time!  He is getting so strong and hopefully he'll start to work on rolling over.

Along with the sleep, I think the best change we've seen is how much Eli smiles.  He has the most amazing gummy smile and every morning when I put him on his changing table to change his diaper, he looks at me and smiles.  I don't know if it's just that he's getting a clean diaper or that he's excited to see mom, but those moments I share with him are priceless. 

We used to joke that Elijah would wake up as an angry, hungry baby....well angry baby no more!  He's been waking up and not screaming right away!  I can actually play with him a little before he becomes angry!  Of course this is only during the day, night time is all business and he's well aware of his days and nights.

The final change we've had is that is becoming a content baby. Tuesday night, we ate dinner outside and he peacefully sat on Ben's lap the whole time!  After that, we walked down to this historic school in our park and listened to a local orchestra play while free ice cream was dished out in honor of parks and rec month!  But, knowing how Elijah can be, we opted not to stand in the really long line for free ice cream and opted for the "like it" sized cups from Cold Stone which always seem to become "love it" sized!  (Aka small and medium).  Either way, we had a really great night and got to listen to some music on a beautiful night with our content Eli!

Here are two pictures I took of him yesterday:

Wonderful Weekends!

What a great weekend we had!  Ben had to go to the EMU Swimming Golf Outing on Saturday, so Elijah and I spent the day together.  It was too hot to do much, but we enjoyed watching the Tigers. 
Sunday began with a great surprise......we slept through the night!  Elijah went to sleep around 10:30 and when I woke Ben to find out what time it was, he made me guess.  My guess was 2:30, but boy was I wrong, it was 5:30 and my little peanut was still not awake!  It wasn't much past that when he did finally wake up, but what a huge surprise!  We'd had two really good nights of sleep, so I was prepared for the worst and got the best outcome!

Since Elijah will be baptized in September, we thought it was about time we get back to going to church.  We were both very nervous about our noisy little guy, but we picked the best possible day to go!  It was Pandamania Sunday with the vacation bible school kids conducting the service, singing really loud songs and a shortened service.  We made it through the full 45 minute service with Ben holding him for the last 15 minutes (I mentioned it was loud, so loud Eli would fall asleep only to be woken up by the loud music!)  He was dressed in a navy pocket onesie, khaki shorts and the most adorable shoes, not that God cares what he wears, but he was so cute!  He was also included in the church bulletin, so I copied the online portion and pasted it below!

Later on Sunday, I went to a baby shower so Elijah got to spend the day with dad!  They had a front porch view of the Thunder Over Michigan show featuring the Blue Angels (the very same Blue Angels who have been waking Eli up from his naps since Thursday!).  When I got home, we were all able to sit down and enjoy a Tiger game!

2 Month Check Up = 100% Perfect Baby

Today Eli had his 2 month check up, and I was not looking forward to it since I knew he was going to have to get his immunizations (aka shots).  I'm not great about needles, in fact I'm not even OK with needles since they cause me to spiral into a panic attack.  Nonetheless, we need our little guy to be protected, so the immunizations were crucial.  He took the shots like a champ, however tears were brought to my eyes with the horrible panic I saw in his eyes.  I was prepared to make a quick get away when the nurse was done, but once I was able to hold my precious little boy, he calmed right down and let me put him in his car seat.  It took less than a minute for him to fall asleep.  I'm a little afraid he's going to be fussier than normal, but we're prepared to give Eli some extra attention after a traumatic day.

We got the great news about how perfect our little peanut is after Eli peed on the doctor.  Here are his stats:
Weight: 11 pounds 10 ounces (49th percentile)
Height: 23" (54th percentile)
Head: 38 1/2 (20th percentile)

All in all, Elijah is right on track with hitting his developmental milestones, if not a little ahead.  He has already reached a 4 month milestone with the way he grabs the stars and fishes hanging from his activity gym.  Unfortunately to doctor has asked me to start working on having Elijah sooth himself.  She didn't say to let him cry it out, but she told me to let him cry for a few minutes to see if he'll start to sooth himself.  This is going to be horrific for me since it pains me to hear him scream without one of us there to let him know we are trying to make him happy.  But, on the other hand, this will lead to him sleeping through the night!

Speaking of sleeping through the night, we had a break through last night!  We finished feeding Eli at 8:00 and didn't want to eat again until 2:00am!  This is huge because we haven't gotten past about 4 hours!  This led to a great night sleep for mom and dad!  I'm sure tonight will be painful for he and us with him having sore little legs, but even one night of good sleep is more than I expect!

Here are two of his cute little band-aids (one is blue camo and I can't figure out the other one)

 This little band-aid is tweedy bird!

In case you thought I was just bragging about how awesome Eli is, here he is grabbing his fishy!

Meeting the Coworkers...

Today, Elijah and I went to my work for one of my co-workers baby shower.  He got to meet my boss as well as several members of my team.  He did really well at first, but then little mister Elijah got antsy and we came home.  He slept for a really long time, so I'm guessing he was overstimulated with seeing all the new faces.

An update on the pacifier post:  He is no longer using it unless we are trying to calm him down.   He maybe used it for 5 minutes yesterday as he much prefers his hand (a his thumb!).

Here are a couple of pictures so you can get your Elijah fix!

Elijah was rooting for USA Women's Soccer on Sunday

8 Weeks Old



Reading with Dad: We had to explain to Eli that the real sun doesn't have eyes, nose and a mouth and definitely no eye brows!  The sun is his favorite picture to look at!

8 Weeks 1 Day Old

8 Weeks 2 Days Old



Are you trying to figure out who Elijah looks like?

If you are still trying to figure out who Elijah looks like more, here's your answer....although it may be the he doesn't look like neither Ben nor I, but Grandpa D! See for yourself and you tell us what you think!

Heather at 10 weeks
(Yes, that's a bow taped in my hair)

Ben at 7 Weeks

Ben at 7 Weeks

Dave at 6 Weeks

Dave at 6 Weeks

Dave at about 8 Weeks

Pacifier or No Pacifier....That is our Question

Elijah has been pretty attached to his pacifier since we came home from the hospital, however something is changing.  We are finding more and more the Elijah doesn't want his pacifier, but he wants his fingers and hands!  Ben is still holding out he'll use his Tennessee pacifier before he totally drops the habit, so we made the switch to his flashy paci before that can happen!

Smiles for Nana kick off the Weekend

Saturday morning, Nana (Grandma Stubbs) and I were talking about whether we thought Elijah knew her now or not.....we soon got the answer we were looking for when Elijah woke up from his nap and when he saw Nana, he gave her the biggest gummy smile!  He for sure knows his Nana!  He then got to experience his first coney island when Grandpa D, Nana, Ben and I took him to Leo's! 

The busy morning was followed by going to Colin's baptism (Colin is our friends Bethany and Nick Avondet's son).  He didn't last long in church, but he really showed off at the celebration after.  He got to visit with our friends and even took a great nap in the Ergo (big surprise!).

Sunday, Eli went to Target and as you can see by the picture below, he had a GREAT time!  He certainly takes after his mommy!

After our Target visit, we went to watch the USA women's world cup finals and hang out with friends.  He did a great job while we ate, however the crowd cheering after great plays and goals sent us packing home.  After a long weekend of fun, we get to just relax as a family before dad has to go back to work.

When Dad's away....

Ben had to go to Chicago for a conference, so Elijah and mommy got to spend a lot of time together!  We had the help of Grandma Beard thankfully, because being a single mom is not easy, even if it is just for a day.  I give those ladies LOTS of credit!  Elijah and I got to hang out and even enjoyed a great night doing all kinds of things like tummy time, playing with his ocean buddies and sleeping in the Ergo. 

Today we did some shopping with Grandma Beard and Elijah was having none of it, unless I was carrying him.  He seemed to be perfect in my arms and crabby in his stroller....guess he's becoming a mama's boy and I'm OK with it:)  Elijah's growing so quickly that he outgrew his swaddle he wears to bed, but I bought something that is similar, so fingers crossed that when he tries it out tonight, he likes it!

Pictures to follow!!!

Elijah...Relaxed? Yeah Right!

Elijah is a lot of things and mostly just perfect, but one word I can rarely use is relaxed or content.  Imagine my surprise when after we had an evening feeding and went for a walk (a quick fussy one at that) only to come home to have him sit on my lap outside on the rocking chair and he was RELAXED and HAPPY!  This is a huge break through for me since I have often wondered why he doesn't just kind of hang out and not cry.  We took a picture for you non-believers in his relaxed state!

Call me a Sucker.....

I knew I shouldn't have bragged about how great of a night we had two nights ago....last night, we paid the price.  Elijah just wasn't wanting to go to sleep and made it difficult on his mommy and daddy.  The good news is that he slept fairly well through the day today!

A friend of mine told me about this Fisher Price Newborn Sleeper that has worked magic for her one month old son's sleep habits, so I did some research.  This little rocker is great for babies with reflux because of the incline the sling lays on, and even though Eli doesn't have reflux, he has some severe gas issues/spit up problems that keep him awake and even wake him up.  Call me a sucker, but today we went to Buy Buy Baby and picked one up.  I've had struggles getting Elijah from his Ergo (baby carrier) to his pack and play during nap time, so I was shocked when today I was able to take him from the Ergo sleeping and placed him in the newborn rocker and he stayed sleeping for an hour!  Gas didn't wake him up!!!!  He calmly woke up, ate, and then went back to sleep in it for another hour!  It may not work ever again, but for today, I'm holding onto hope that I will not always have to hold him in order for him to get sleep during the day!  Sometimes it's just too hot for he and I in the Ergo!  Doesn't he look happy:)

Reverse Psychology

We couldn't have asked for a better night, and now that I've documented it, it won't happen again for weeks!  Ben and I had to start using reverse pshychology because anytime we speak about how awesome he is, he switches his mood!  That said, Elijah did not sleep well last night....he went to "bed" at 9:00 and got up at 12:45, 3:00 and 6:30...that's one horrible night (wink wink).  I think he was all tired out from playing with his Nana all day!

Seven Weeks Old Today...

This being our first post, we'll tell you how awesome Elijah has been thus far!  He's come along way since being a tiny 6 pounds 7 ouces when he was born (see how cute he is below).

I'm not going to say the first few weeks have been easy because they have been anything but easy.  We've learned that Eli has to sleep in a fleece swaddle, yes fleece in the middle of summer.  If he's not wrapped tightly in his "night-time" swaddle, he's not going to sleep well.  We've also learned that he's a "laundry baby" due to him spitting up like a volcano during and after each feeding.  We've gotten use to this and warn everyone who dare hold him that it's possible he could let lose and get you!  Another thing we've learned is that when changing his diaper, watch out for the fountain.  I've always heard you have to be careful with boys, but we found out right away how true it is.  I feel bad for the poor nurse who he covered and bad for him since it also went in his mouth (don't worry, this apparently happens all the time because the nurse immediately let us know that urine is sterile and not to worry).

More recently, Eli has come to reward us with two major things, his adorable cooing and gummy little smile that could melt anyone's heart.  According to the books we've been reading, we'll be rewarded with more sleep in the coming weeks, but we'll see if that holds true!  He's also starting  to focus on many items and have lots of little black and white pictures of animals that he enjoys watching and often talks to. 

As of last Thursday, Elijah weighed a solid 10 pounds 8 ounces and has earned the title of overachiever eater by those at his doctor's office!  He doesn't like to be hungry and often gets angry if you don't respond to his need immediately!

We'll keep you posted on the new things Elijah is doing, so check back often or follow this blog.  Also, if you don't already receive our Weekly Picture Digest through Shutterfly, let us know and we'll be sure you see the full set of pictures we are taking as Eli grows up!

Here's a clip from today of Elijah playing with his activity gym!