February 7

Hi Elijah!
Seems like I have a lot to share with you today baby boy! You are still a fussy pants. Mom and dad are starting to research our avenues for refunds... :) But, you appear to be a good boy when you are not around us. You went over to spend time at Gramma Ruth's house today and you were a good boy. Came home then started screaming. Maybe you are allergic to me and your dad :)

Guess what Gramma Ruth said? She told your dad that you have my eyes and mouth. WOOHOO...You kinda look like me. :) When I look at you now, I don't see 100% of your dad anymore. I am starting to see a bit more of a mix of both of us. That makes me so excited!

You have spent 3 nights in a row in your crib now. Your mom cries a bit less each night. I was going to sneak you in our bed tonight because you were so fussy but I had flashbacks of the night you rolled across the bed and knew it was better for you to be in your crib. I have been putting the monitor a little bit further away from my head each night but I still grip it tight since it has a vibrating buzz when you squeal too high.

You are over 6 weeks old now. You are starting your 7th week of life. 6 weeks seems like you are a little old man now :) It is a big milestone for me. Since we were never able to fully breast feed and I just pump for you, 6 weeks was my goal to stop. However, when you were at the 5 week mark, I told your dad I was done. It was too painful and I just was going to start weaning off. Ever since then, it has been much easier. I guess I took the pressure off myself and quit monitoring the clock as to when to pump. Now, I just pump when my body tells me it is time and life is much easier. I am still not making enough for you to eat full time but you are about 50/50 breast milk and formula. Since we reached our 6 week goal, any day additional now is just added health benefits for you.

We have a busy week this week buddy. Tomorrow is our final doctor appointment with Bonehead. Tuesday is dinner with 2 friends who can't be named because they work for the federal government :) Thursday is book club and Friday we are hoping to leave to go to Denver. Hopefully, we will have good weather for our Denver trip.

February 6

Hi Sunshine!
I am exhausted today. Wiped out emotionally and physically. You slept in your crib last night. Alone. Away from your mom. Like a big boy. Your mom was the one who whimpered all night with the monitor stuck to her head waiting for you to cry to tell me to come get you. Your mom was the one who had to rush in twice to make sure you were still breathing. You? You were fine. Your dad? He snored all night long. I guess we now know exactly who was the big advocate of you sleeping with us. I missed you so but it did work out good and I bet I relax a bit more tonight than I did last night. Right now, you are sleeping on my chest before I get ready to go out. I let you do that because I know pretty soon you will be too big to do it anymore. Each day, you change a little bit. You are more alert, make new noises, and just grow into a big boy. Each day, I whine to your dad that my little newborn is gone and he rolls his eyes at me.

Tonight, I am deserting you and going out with Debbie for her birthday. Your dad says you two are going trolling for chics at Home Depot. :) I hope you find a rich one that will pay my alimony and child support demands.

We took some silly pictures of you today and this is my favorite. See, you don't look like a newborn baby anymore - you look like a big boy!

February 3rd, 4th and 5th

Hi Monkey,
Your cousin Brandi accused me of slacking on your blog. She was out of town and wanted her Elijah fix. Well, kiddo, I am slacking because I had nothing to say! On Wednesday and Thursday, we didn't do anything and you didn't do anything fun. Pretty much all day Thursday, you cried. Needless to say, it was a very long day.

Today, we did go meet Vivienne Lindberg and her mom for lunch - I joked that we were introducing you to your future wife. You can go for the older ladies - she is 2 months older than you. Neither of you were too interested in each other - she slept and you went back and forth between being good and fussing. After that, you went over Kylie Shark's house for a couple of hours. Report was that you were good there.

Your dad and I don't really know what to do with you. Seems like you are eating a bit more and might be going through a bit of a growing stage. You aren't sleeping any more - just two or three hours at a time before you want to eat. I don't think you have your nights and days mixed up because you sleep 2-3 hours whether it is night or day. We are hoping that daycare will help get us into a routine!

Even though you were fussy and I didn't post, I still did take your picture every day. Sometimes, multiple shots of fussiness everyday!

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

February 2

Hi Elijah!
Not much to report today! We didn't do a whole lot. We did have fun watching you roll over several times. It is like a new circus trick for your mom and dad to watch. We went to dinner with Sherry & Aunt Sheila where we picked up your baptism pictures. WOW - some great photos in there! Between my camera, Sherry's camera and your Gramma Debbie's camera, we are set with baptism photos. We read another book today and I don't think you looked at the photos but you do listen. I think you like the sound of your mom being a goofy dramatic reader :)

February 1

Hi Elijah,
I can barely say "Baby Elijah" today because you are such a big boy it is flipping your mom and dad out! Your mom started laying you on your tummy while you were relaxing to get you working your neck muscles. I look over and the next thing I know, you are going "FLIP" and on your back. You rolled over! I think that you have done this before but I always made excuses - oh, the bed was inclined or I helped you. This time, there were no excuses - you are a big boy who can flip from his tummy to his back. Not only that, we think you are discovering your tongue. Last week, you kept moving it a lot and I got worried that you were dehydrated along with your tummy issues. In passing, your dad said "I think Elijah just learned he has a tongue." That is what it is - you learned you had a tongue and that you can move it and make noises. Here, your mom was ready to call a specialist and it is just you learning that you have a tongue. You are also experimenting more with your noises. We think you like to hear yourself talk - your dad says you get that from me and I suppose I can't dispute that!

After that, we went to have birthday dinner with your Uncle Jeff, Aunt Sheila, and your cousins, Cory & Jeremy. Uncle Jeff got to love you up a little bit before he heads back to Phoenix. Next time you see him, we can call him Grampa Jeff because Baby Jake will be here!!

I will make a big confession that will probably get me in trouble with your family. I can imagine my cell phone lighting up like crazy when people read this but I have to share it. Then, I will tell you about the lesson we learned! You still sleep with us the majority of the time. Your room is kind of cold so we haven't attempted to move you in there and plus, as a convenience factor, we just plop you in the middle of the bed. Last night, you woke up at 3:30 and I fed you in your boppy. You fell right back asleep so I just left you in your boppy in the middle of the bed. Once a day, you like to take a nap in your boppy - I guess you like the incline every once and awhile. Around 5:30, I feel little feet on my back. I figured I rolled over next to the boppy and you were kicking me. I turned over carefully and you had escaped your boppy and rolled right into me and you were on your tummy. Somehow, you went from your back in your boppy to your tummy next to me. Your dad and I don't know how you did it but it is forcing us to cut the cord and put you in your crib. Can't take any chances with you now that you are a superman rolling machine! In one sense, it was so darn cute to have you snuggled up next to me and realize how much effort it took for you to get there. In another sense, it freaked me out because what if I would have thought you were still in your boppy and didn't feel you? Scared your mom so your days in our bed at night are over.

Tonight, we are going to have some Mexican food with Sherry Shark and retrieve your baptism photos. Man, Elijah, her and your Uncle Zach did a great job. Can't wait to see her photos. Then, we are going to have to go to the hardware store and pick up a vent deflector so we can get your room warmer for you to sleep in it. We are going to try to do the Mexican with no tequila for either of us!!

January 30th, 31st

Well little Elijah, your meet and greet weekend is officially over! Your Aunties are gone, your godparents are back in their cities, your baptism is over and all that spoiling is DONE :) We are still winding down from all of that activity, aren't we?

January 30
You had another busy day today. We went to lunch with your Auntie Kim, Auntie Val, Great Gramma, Baby God Daddy and Erica. Then, your Gramma Debbie was missing you so we took you over there for 3 whole hours while we ran errands. We had dinner with the Langs again and your mom has to confess that she had way too much to drink. Parenting on tequila is not a pretty sight! But, we had a great time and you got to be spoiled by Great Gramma Lang while we played cards. I still haven't figured out if you drank any of that tequila with me and whether or not it helped you sleep :) You look like you had a little tequila in this silly photo I took but this would have been before you had any :)

January 31
It was your big day Baby Boy - your baptism. You got all dolled up in a white Christening suit and so many people came to see you be baptized. I was kind of surprised at how emotional I was during the ceremony (Not that I would show anyone - it was all in my head.) When they poured the water on your head, it was very meaningful to me. Now, we just have to do our part to raise you with a strong sense of faith. We had cake and soda and lots of pictures afterwards. I have to admit that I was a little blue at the socializing. Even though so many people came out to see you, we were still missing so many that it made me sad. I know your Grampas were all there in spirit but events like that really remind me of all that we are missing. You were held and loved up my so many people, I can't list them all. Plus, you also received a huge loot of baptism goods. Your dad and I were overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and family. We think that this is the last of your loot - no more events to shower Elijah with gifts until your birthday :) We had one more family dinner at Sortinos before Brian and Erica left. Then, your mom and dad ditched you once again - over Gramma's for a couple of hours while we relaxed. When we picked you up, we thought they would lock the door to keep us out so they could keep you. We did have to pry you away from Auntie Val but it was made easier since we are hoping to visit her in a couple of weeks.

It will be a lot of years before you realize this (heck, I think I was in my twenties before I realized the value of family) but you are one lucky little boy. You have so many branches of family - Langs, Brighams, Blankmans, Dieatricks - that just love you so much. That doesn't even count your mom and dad's friends who love you up! You had 3 people (Auntie Kim, Auntie Val and Uncle Jeff) fly into Omaha to see you get some water splashed on your head. You have two Godparents who drove in town just for you. You have so much love locally - people gave up their Sunday afternoons to come see you and they wanted nothing in return but to maybe hold you for a few minutes. I hope that I can do a good job of raising you to appreciate all that you have and not take it for granted!

January 27, 28, 29

Hi Monkey!
Been kind of a weird 3 days here in our lives. Lots going on - being sick, going to the dr, your Uncle being a superstar and Elijah's Meet & Greet kicked off.

January 27
You slept all day today. It kind of struck me that you might not be feeling good because you do not normally sleep that long without being up for a few hours here and there. But, I was just so darn excited to sleep with you that I didn't pay too much attention to it. But, starting in the evening, you were officially not feeling well. All sorts of fussiness and crabbiness. Your dad and I didn't know what to do with you but we did get you sleeping a bit. However, you were just grunting, groaning and squirming so much that we didn't get any good sleep.

January 28
OH MY GOODNESS BABY - you are one month old already! Shocking! But, unfortunately, you were sick. You were vomiting, fussy, and just not yourself. I finally called the doctor and we took you in. They said you had an upset tummy and we did pedialyte for 3 feedings. You had some apple flavored juice rather than the same old milk. Helped a bit but you were still not yourself. I went and saw your Uncle sing the national anthem at the Bryan basketball game. He was awesome. You will be so proud of him when you watch it when you are older. You did stop fussing for a bit when I played it for your dad. Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!

January 29
Could you be any more spoiled? Holy mackerel! We went to lunch with all of your mom's aunts (your aunties) and Great Gramma. Then, we spent all day with them. I dumped you off and I went upstairs to take a nap. Over the course of the day, you were spoiled rotten by: Great Gramma, Auntie Val, Auntie Kim, Grampa Keith, Cory, Lauren, Brian and Erica. Not to mention the huge bag of gifts we got from your Great-Great Aunts Janet and Janice. All about Elijah :) Your mom got a bit spoiled too - Gramma bought her lunch and cooked her dinner with even some jello for dessert. I swear that it was like we were little kids again at the table :) You don't seem to be back to 100% yet but we are going to keep dosing you up on your gas drops and getting you back to being yourself.

Everyone enjoyed all of your grunting and groaning and loving you up. But, you know what I realized? I need a bit of Elijah loving myself during the day. It was nice to take a nap and have a big break but then, I didn't get any time with you either. When we got home, I let you sleep on me for awhile so I can just smooch you up to make up for today. Something else tore at my heart today and yesterday. When I came home from seeing Uncle Zach, your dad said you smiled when you heard my voice. Today, your family was saying that you were following my voice and actually wanted me to hold you. For a month, I really just figured that you wanted a warm body to hold you. But, today, it made me feel like your mommy when you wanted me. Because of your good behavior, I will slip an extra dollar in your bank for your college fund. :) Thank you for making my day!