April 21

Hi Baby!
It was a big day today little man! Your best friend Baby Jake was born at 6:47 pm. He was a little smaller than you - 7 lbs 12 oz and a little longer than you 21". Mommy waited all day for the announcement that he was born and for Lauren to say we could come up to visit him. Once we got the ok, we were out the door and didn't even put pants on you!

Outside of our big Baby Jake news, you hung out with Grampa Keith & Heather for the longest time ever! They walked over to Mary's and picked you up. Heather sent home a video of you that I am going to check out right now. Maybe we can get it on your blog soon :)

April 19 and 20th

Hiya Baby!
What I am about to share with you is the stuff that is ripe for tormenting you in front of your girlfriends later on in life. Here is the deal - you are a drama king. When you need to dirty your diaper, the world stops spinning, we all hold our breath and we hope for the best. You scrunch up your face, you whine at us, you turn red and it is a major ordeal. Even Mary said "I have never had a kid in 26 years that makes such a production over taking a poo." (I altered the last word for your innocent ears)

So, last night, I picked you up from Gramma Debbie's and I was trying to give you some cereal. I was interrupted in the middle by your need to poo - like I said earlier, the world stops turning so food was definitely out of the question. I sat there watching you, waiting for you to finish and I realized that if I am going to sit and watch you in your high chair, I can sit and watch you on a potty chair. We ordered you your first potty chair and I made sure it had a high back on it so you can lean against it during your turmoil.

Now, mommy and daddy realize that you are way too young to begin potty training - despite your dad's demands that you be trained by 6 months. However, if we are fully aware of when you are dirtying your diaper, we may as well get you in the habit of doing it on the toilet. Maybe it will help us down the road when you are starting to train. While you may not be old enough to give us the verbal clues of "Potty", you certainly show us the physical cues of when to throw you on there.

After your mini-cereal feeding, poo and bath, we put special lotion on your head because it is really dry and flaky. You were glistening and oily like a bodybuilder during a photo shoot. Daddy was worried he was going to drop you because you would slip out of his hands. You played on your exercise mat for over 2 hours! Just rolling around, kicking the poles, toppling the whole thing on top of you! Such a good baby tonight.



Not much to share for Tuesday little man. You hung out with Gramma Debbie and nappied together. We came home and you played on your mat, we did cereal, bath and then it was pretty much bed time.

April 18

Hi baby!
We had a super big day today! You were in a good mood most of the day but not as happy as yesterday. You went to Starbucks with daddy then took a nap. After your nap, we decided to try to feed you some cereal. I think we were supposed to wait until 4 months but you are drinking so much formula (about 6 oz every 2 - 2.5 hours) that we thought we start to slowly introduce cereal. I read that the first few feedings are less about the food and more establishing the habit. You did great. You were fussy at first because you were hungry so we let you drink a little bit of your bottle. After you drank a bit, you were happy and were playing with the cereal in your mouth. I was a bit sappy because you are such a big boy now! You were sitting in your bumbo like a big boy and eating like a big boy! Then, we went over Grampa Keith's to work on his computer. Him and Heather loved you up for a couple of minutes but not long enough for them! Kylie shark asked if she could have you today so we had an appointment with her too. She was so excited because you gave her your new squeal!!

When we got home, you spent a lot of time on your exercise mat as your dad and I did stuff around the house. All of a sudden, you squealed and your dad looked over. You had rolled over from your back to your tummy! You didn't like being on your tummy once you got there and so you had to get our attention to roll you back over. We were both so bummed we missed it. Your daddy thought that maybe you pulled on your giraffe and pulled yourself over. He kept watching you and you were playing with your giraffe but you rolled over AGAIN and you didn't use your giraffe at all. Now, you have rolled over both ways!

We have a BIG week this week buddy! Gramma Debbie wants to see you on Monday & Tuesday. I asked Grampa Keith to pick you up on Wednesday because I have a haircut. On Wednesday, we (hopefully) get to meet Baby Jake! If not, we definitely get to meet him on Thursday!!! On Friday, we are going to pack it up and head up to see Baby GodDaddy and Erica. Your cousin Brandon will be there and Auntie Val too. We are driving up with Great Gramma so you will have lots of family time!!

I will leave you with a sentimental moment. As we were feeding you the second time, you were just gazing at your daddy. You were looking at him with such admiration and then you would grin at him. He was looking at you just as intently and then he would smile back at you. Oh my gosh, it was a moment to make my heart go pitter patter. He told you that he hopes you remember these moments where just looking at us makes you happy because you might not like us so much later down the road :)

April 17

Hi Baby Elijah!
Oh my goodness. I would say that today was one of the best days we have ever spent together! You were so happy all stinking day. You cracked me up every time I looked at you. This morning, we got up at 7:30, had a bottle then I was hoping you would sleep again. Daddy had to go to work and I said "Elijah, let's sleep until 12." Daddy left at 9:15 and you were in the middle of the bed. I told your daddy that you would be planning your sneak attack on me. Next thing I knew, your head was against me. Then, you squirmed for about 1/2 hour until you were sucked up against me. Then, we slept until 11:15!! When you were up and fed again, you were so happy. You have developed this new skill for getting all excited and then doing a new noise that is a cross between a squeal and a growl. it is the cutest thing ever!! I had to leave for a bit to hang out with your Grampa Keith and Uncle Zachary so you hung out with Daddy. When I got back, you were still super happy. I am doing a really bad job in communicating to you what an awesome day it was but I guess just know that I loved you every second of the day. Your smiles melted my heart each time. You know what else happened? You were playing on your mat and all of a sudden, you yelled out "Ma". Your dad and I stopped what we were doing and just looked at each other. It was so clear. We know it is not meant to be "mommy" but you definitely showed us you were capable of it!!!

At the last minute, mommy, daddy and your Uncle Zachary decided to go to a movie so we found you a babysitter at Sherry Shark's house. She said that you were so good for her and you were still in a good mood. She was so excited to babysit you. She has to get some good, quality practice time in so her skills are sharp for your friend Kylie to have a baby :)

As I leave you today, I need to share something with you. I realized something big today. I wanted you to come in our life really badly. I envisioned all cutesy baby things and little baby joys. But, I didn't spend any time thinking about what it truly meant to be a mom or have a son. I realized today that I love being your mom more than I ever, ever imagined. I just look at you and I smile. Every day, you are getting so much bigger and so much more interactive. Each day, I marvel at how blessed I am to have you as a son and I never would have imagined that this parenthood thing would be so cool! Yes, you still have fussy moments and yes, it won't be all sunshine and roses but overall, it is much better than I ever imagined!


I made a picture for you of your sneak attack. It is kind of a playbook of your maneuvering. :)

April 15 & 16

Hi Elijah!
I went back and was reading some of your old posts and I really enjoyed it. I had already forgotten a lot of that stuff and it had only been 3 months! What a treasure for me to have when you are lipping off as a teenager and I can remember the good old days when you were so sweet and innocent. But, it made me realize that I have been changing the focus of your blog and posting you quickies telling you your activities but not really talking to you a whole lot. That made me sad. Yes, I want you to remember who you were hanging out with but I also want to talk to you.

On Thursday, I got a phone call from your dad that you hurt his feelings. Apparently, when he dropped you off at daycare, you just gave him the evil eye stare. Even Mary said that she had never seen you act that way. I, of course, rubbed it in to your dad that it was because he has been deserting you for exercise class and you don't feel like he loves you anymore. haha. After work, I had book club so I didn't see you a whole lot. Your daddy took you over Gramma Ruth's to visit all of your family there. She said you are getting HEAVY :) I came home and rushed up to take your photo for the day - another lame-o photo from your lazy mom!

Today, you were such a happy baby this morning. You were smiling and cooing and making new noises I hadn't heard before. When I picked you up from daycare and took you to Great Gramma's, you were happy too. But, when I picked you up, you tipped the scales to fussy pants. You were over tired then hungry then tired so you were just a plain fussy pants. We did a video chat with Auntie Val and Brandon but you weren't too happy to see them because you were so tired. Poor Brandon was so excited to see you but you just gave him your bug-eyed face!

So, let's see what I want to talk to you about today. I will tell you about the deal that I made with your dad. I told him that we have 5 years to get our finances in order so I can reduce my hours at work. Not a drastic reduction - just an hour or so a day so that I can take you to school and pick you up from school. I envision that time after school to be our time together. I have a "Leave it to Beaver" vision in my head - you come home and tell me all about school, we do your homework together, we get dinner ready. In reality, you will probably not want anything to do with me. :) But, that is my plan for our life.

Oh, I have another plan that I would like to share with you. This one is a bit more serious. I hate to make decisions about our family without your input but you are too little to provide any input on this one. When I look at you, I just can't imagine life without you. I already miss your newborn stage. I realized how badly I would like a 2nd little kiddo in the house. So, I think we may try to make you a baby sister (I know it will be a girl. Just like I knew you were a girl. haha) over the summer. I know it seems crazy since we just had you. But, I have to confess that I don't want to have kiddos much older than I am now. I would like a 2nd baby, I would like you to be close in age and I would like to be young. So, that doesn't leave us much time. I worry how that will affect you - you won't be the center of attention, you won't have had much time with your mom and dad all to yourself, etc. However, there are plenty of well adjusted kiddos out there that have siblings when they are over a year old so I think you will recover. When your dad and I got married, I really thought we would have 3-4 kiddos all in a row and I would be done having kiddos at 30. Well, that didn't really work out for us, did it? But, God brought you here with us and we can only pray that God will bring us a baby sister for you!

April 13 & April 14

You are in so much trouble buddy. When I picked you up on Tuesday, Mary told me that you rolled over. Remember our agreement? You were not supposed to do anything from 8-5 Monday through Friday. I will let this one pass because we have seen you roll over. You did it a long time ago and did it several times then you stopped doing it. But, back to tummy rolling over, walking, talking, etc - all those need to be done on evenings and weekends.

After daycare, we went to Heartland Park and took a bunch of photos. We walked around the lake while your dad did his boot camp. After all these years, I have never walked around there before. I really enjoyed it - nice scenery, good exercise and you enjoyed the time in the stroller. Your photos turned out so awesome. I took 90 of you just to get 10 really good ones.

Wednesday
You were a happy, happy baby this morning. I love that but it does make it a little hard to say goodbye to you and ship you off to daycare. Before your dad left for boot camp, he left you in charge of the TV and remote. He is training you early. Later, we put you on your mat to play with your toys. You started fussing after awhile and when we looked down, you completely jimmied off the play mat!! No rolling over but you are such a wiggly worm that now you move everywhere!

4/10-4/12

Hi Elijah!
We had a busy weekend, huh? Saturday we went to Lincoln where you hung out with Auntie Becky & Uncle Steve. They were so excited to take you to the park and see if you were big enough to swing. But, you fell asleep on the way there. I think they had fun with you anyway! After that, we went to dinner with your future wife - Vivianne or Isabella (whichever you choose!) Lindberg. You were a good boy at the restaurant.

On Sunday, you played outside for a bit while we cleaned out the cars. Then, we relaxed before going over your cousin Brandi's house. You got a beautiful new quilt from Roger & Darnell. We tried out your new baby wrap and it was a total success! You loved it and fell asleep twice.

On Monday, Gramma Debbie picked you up and she hung out with you. You were in a good mood for her and I think she enjoyed you flirting with her. We ran errands together while daddy was at his Boot Camp. You are starting to get back to yourself - only unhappy when you are tired, hungry or dirty.