February 21

Hi Lijah!
Well, today is the day. The last day that we are together full time in our first eight weeks together. Tomorrow morning, you start your new adventure at daycare. Your dad was so good to me last night and I slept from 10:45 until 7 with only two breaks to pump. Then, you and I started our day together by you puking all your milk on me then leaving me a dirty diaper. Your dad informed me that you & him have a deal that for every dirty diaper I get left, he gives you $1. Nice! Even with you getting sick and having a dirty diaper, we still had a good time talking this morning and you smiling.

I can't believe you are 8 weeks old. Wow - that time did go by fast although it gets harder and harder to remember a time when you weren't here. It is also getting harder to remember all of our struggles in making babies because now we just look at you. You are still getting about 1/2 formula and 1/2 breast milk - even though I say every day that I am done with it. I have more guilt over the breast milk than I do about daycare and I don't think you will ever remember if you got formula or breast milk :)

Today, we relaxed, hung out, got mommy's office ready for work then went to your cousin Brandi's for game night. You were able to hang out with Brandi, Jeff, Aunt Sheila and also meet Roger and Darnell. I think you had fun and we all had fun laughing at your silliness. Everyone got to see what a drama king you are.

A shocking turn of events happened when we got home and we got you ready for bed. It finally set in your mom's brain that you were leaving me during the day and I was a mess. I have been all big and bad that I was excited for you to go to daycare and I was blubbering like an idiot at 11:00 telling you repeatedly how much you were going to like it. I think I was convincing myself more than you. You would just smile at me and then when I would start crying, you burped and farted to make me laugh. What is funny is that I had typed up this message before we went to Brandi's and I did not look like this confident, excited person at night when I was the emotional mess!

A lot of people have asked me if I feel bad that you are going to daycare. I have to be honest with you kiddo, I don't. I can hardly wait. I think it will be good for you. You will interact with lots of other kiddos, you will learn things when you are old enough to start learning, you will have a lot more to do than just sitting around all day looking at your mom and Mary knows a thing or two about babies that your mom and dad don't. Also, I will now look forward to the time when you come home and be excited to see you rather than waiting for your dad to come home to take over. I think it is a good thing all around for all 3 of us. We are also hoping that you will get into a better routine and sleep a little more at night since you will be playing with all those kiddos all day. I do love you to pieces and I do think I will miss you but it is the best (well, and to be honest only) decision for us.

I forgot to take you photo yesterday so we had a last minute, swaddled Elijah photo. Apparently, it worked because you slept for almost 5 hours last night. Your longest stretch ever!

February 20

Hi Baby!
Not a ton to share today. We ran errands, relaxed and then you went to visit Debbie, Morgan & Shane. They wanted to love you up so mom and dad went to dinner and to the Omaha Roller Girls.

I am finding that you are getting to be a lot more interactive. Other people have been saying this but I am just starting to see it myself. I figured something out - I think you are good for other people because they hold you more than your dad and I do. Then, you get home and we plop you down by yourself and you are like "What the heck people? I am used to being pampered and held." And, then comes fussy Lijah. Anyway, back to being more interactive, you are now starting to smile when I talk to you versus just randomly smiling. That is way cool! I call that my Happy Lijah.

Your dad thought that you needed your own sunglasses since his were too big. They came on Friday.


That is about it buddy. One more day at home with your parents then you are off to daycare.

February 17th, 18th and 19th

Hi Bucko!
Not a ton to share over the last 3 days. We haven't done anything too exciting. You did go on a couple of house calls though - Kylie shark wanted to hang out with you on Wednesday and Grampa Keith wanted to hang out with you on Thursday. On Wednesday, we all went to visit Gramma Ruth's house so you saw your cousins. Other than that, we have spent our final days together just hanging out looking at each other. I think you are ready for daycare as much as I am. :)

Unfortunately, our sleep patterns have gone a little backwards. We were up to 4 hours and now we are back to 3 hours. Your dad tells me everyday how great you did because you slept like 5-6 hours but he doesn't realize that I was up at the 3 hour mark with you. He will learn next week when it becomes a 50/50 split! He has gotten off the hook on a lot of those feedings since I was not working. You did pick up a bad habit on our Denver trip - you decided that you would only nap if you were being held. We are working on getting you off of that kick but it isn't easy. I had to give in on one nap yesterday and one today because I was so tired that I needed you to sleep. You sure are going to be a fussy pants if you won't take a nap at daycare. Then, Mary will be a fussy pants at us because you are crabby.

It is hard to believe that 8 weeks have gone by already and now we are ready to settle into our "normal" life. In some ways, it feels like 6 months and in other ways, it feels like we just brought you home 2 days ago. You are definitely bigger and more active. We will go soon for your 2 month check up. I am guessing you are near 12 lbs now.

Well, bucko, busy weekend again. Debbie and Morgan wanted to baby sit you tomorrow and we are going over cousin Brandi's on Sunday. We will take one of your giraffes so you and Jeff can play together :) Hopefully, next weekend, you can go see little Levi.

Wednesday photo - lame one - sorry bucko. I took it while you were sleeping and I was all hormonal about how cute you were. But, it didn't turn out well and I forgot to take another one!


Thursday photos - courtesy of Heather




Friday photo - you were playing on your mat today and cooing at me a bit.

February 14th, 15th and 16th

Happy First Valentines Day Baby boy!



How exciting - the day of love and you were showered with love from everyone around you. Aunt Val spoiled you rotten from the time you woke up until the time you went to sleep. She held you, talked to you fed you and just loved you in general. She had her friends come over to meet you and they loved you up too. Of course, you were spoiled even more with stuffed animals and clothing gifts from her friends. I think Gramma Debi D also has a stuffed animal for you for Valentine's Day. Your mom and dad are going to need a storage unit for their stuff to make room for all of your stuff :)


You are so diabolical that I can hardly stand it. Everyone looks at how sweet and innocent you are but your dad and I know better. You were fussing on the floor and your dad and I ignored you. We knew you were just faking it for attention. We probably even taunted you a bit telling you to cry like a man or something silly. Well, Aunt Val couldn't stand to see you fuss - even for a minute - so she picked you up. Your head was on her shoulder and when she turned around, you were facing us. You looked at us and smiled. You were saying "See suckers, I know how to get attention."

Mommy and Daddy left you with Aunt Val and went to a movie. While we were gone, you did your first video chat with Brian and Erica. How fun that your baby god daddy got to see you all the way from Minnesota. The report was that you were showing them lots of your fussy face!

When we were in bed, we were talking about the Brigham's trait of story telling and I said (In a baby talk voice, of course) "You are so going to be a liar like your Brigham relatives - daddy, Grampa Bob and all of his brothers, aren't you?" You smiled so big that it cracked me up. I know you are going to be an ornery fart but I guess that means we won't have a boring life :)

We hope that you had a great Valentine's Day and i can't think of anyone better than Aunt Val to spend it with. I think she showers you with more love than we do!

February 15
Another road trip today baby boy! We went to Colorado Springs to meet mommy's co-workers. How exciting to meet some people that mommy works with rather than just daddy's co-workers. You were such a good boy at lunch and on the drive. Afterwards, we spent the evening hanging out with Aunt Val and watching the Olympics. We got to talk to Brian and Erica on video chat again. That was your mom's first time - how fun.

February 16
Well, our trip had to end sometime. Your dad has to go back to work so we had to say goodbye to Auntie Val with the promise to see her soon. I even promised to let her take you to Minnesota for a road trip. I don't know what we would do with full nights of sleep but if she is ready to take you on, we will ship you off with her!

Your daddy was silly with you on this trip and if you have eating disorders, we are blaming him. On the way to Denver, we stopped for lunch and he let you taste pickle juice, tomato juice and pineapple juice. He was rubbing them on your lips and we were laughing at your faces. On the way home, we stopped at Applebees and he was trying to sneak you "tastes" of our dessert but I kept busting him. He did let you finally taste the vanilla ice cream and the chocolate. See, I think we need to hold off on that because I am sure that the milk I make for you is pure sugar so there is no need for that :) But, you really liked it.


As we were heading out to the car, daddy put his sun glasses on you. It was so cute! Thank goodness for my iphone so I can get photos of all these little moments.

Thank you for being such a good boy this trip Elijah. You were so good in the car both ways. You were so good for Aunt Val. You seem to be sleeping more and your medicine seems to be helping because you seem so much happier!

February 12 and 13th

Hi Baby Boy!
Friday was a day of firsts - our first fall down the stairs, your first road trip and your first night away from home. Yep, you read that right, mom fell down the stairs with you. We fell down about 3 stairs and it twisted mom's ankle and hurt her back. Luckily, you were in a sling so you were safe - just startled. Daddy was home so we banged on the wall until he came in from the garage and took care of us. Then, your first road trip! On Friday, we made it from Omaha to Kearney - we are not quick ones now that we are so tired and we have you. Since mommy was in pain, she took one of her c-section pain pills and we both slept really good, huh?

On Saturday, we started making our way to Denver. Overall, you were a really good boy on our road trip. I sat in the back with you and we estimate that out of 8 hours, you were probably only truly fussy for about 30 minutes so we can't complain. We spent time with Candi & John. They loved you up and "practiced" how life will be when their baby Harrington arrives. We think they are ready for that little one to come! Then, we made it over to Auntie Val's so she could love you up. Man, mom and dad were exhausted so it was so nice to have Auntie Val rock you while we slept!

I don't know if your sleeping is getting a bit better or it is just the circumstances. On both Friday and Saturday, you slept almost 4 hours. On Saturday morning, you did wake up at 5:30 for about 30 minutes but then you slept until 8 and didn't even eat. We may be getting closer to you sleeping more.

Friday's Photo: First night in a hotel

Saturday's Photo: First morning in a hotel

February 11

Hi Lijah!
Busy day today, huh? Well, not for us together but separately. Gramma Debbie was itching to see you so I took you over there. You were over there for over 5 hours. WOW! I think that is the longest I have left you! She said that you were a perfect angel over there. Why aren't you a perfect angel at home? Gramma Debbie said that you were loved up by Don, Megan and Brittany. You also gave her a really big dirty diaper. Yay, one less one that mommy and daddy had to clean up.

Then, I whisked you away from Gramma Debbie's to Gramma Debi D's so you could meet Pepsi. That would be Mr. Pepsi to you :) He is your Gramma Debi D's friend and he was so excited to meet you. You missed out on Gramma Debi D because it is tax season but we will catch up with her later.

Finally, I took you to book club so all the ladies could love you up! You were our first boy book club member and it was all about teen pregnancy. Remember - no hos allowed in my house and your dad/I will not be the baby daddy/mommy.

When we got home, you were fussy pants. Swaddled you up like a bug in a rug and you feel asleep. I used my camera as a video camera while you were sleeping to see if I could capture a big old smile. Instead, I got to capture you fussing then spewing out your nose and mouth. Your dad got a big kick out of it but it was not attractive. Maybe we can submit it to America's Funniest Home Videos to win $10,000.

February 10

Hey Monkey!
It was a mixed bag today, huh? You were still a bit crabby but you had some good moments so I can't complain too much :) We ran a few errands and I bought your valentine's day present. Since you don't care and you can't read yet, I will share with you that your dad & I bought you a Hallmark recordable book. It is a book that we will read and it will record our voices. Then, as you turn the pages, you will hear us reading to you. Cool, huh? It is called "All the ways I love you." Awesome idea.

Funny thing happened today. Your dad came home and was spending time with you. He was playing with your tummy and you gave him a huge grin. He was so excited to see that grin that he squealed and it scared you to where you went to your fussy face. That squeal from him was pretty darn cute. I may have seen a glimmer of a tear in his eye!

You were a stinky butt lately so it was bath time. Your mom and dad have been slacking. You sure did love the water tonight. You were moving all around and all happy. You were even turning it into your own personal jacuzzi by adding your own bubbles :) I would have left you in there longer but I saw you were so relaxed that you were squirting!

After your bath, you were happy Lijah so we took your Valentine's Day photos and I wanted some photos of you on your blankie from Great Gramma. Great thing about those cloth diapers - we can coordinate your diaper for your outfit, your blanket or my scrapbook page :) I did buy you a red shirt to wear with your Valentine's Day bib but the bib was so large that we didn't need a shirt for your photo. Sherry Shark also bought you a valentine's day bib so you will be wearing that on the actual holiday. You know what will happen on the actual holiday? We will be with Auntie Val and she will be spoiling you rotten. I won't be able to hold you for like 48 hours!


I also put together this little montage of photos. I have your dad's baby photo, my baby photo and a few photos of you. I am starting to see more of me pop out in you. I still think you look a ton like your dad but there is enough of me in there to know that I contributed some genetic material :)