February 26th and 27th

Hi Baby!
What a busy couple of days! You finished your first week of daycare and you were a rockstar. Your mom, on the other hand, didn't have such a good week. As we discussed, I was a bit upset on Monday. On Wednesday, I got in trouble because you were gassy. Since I had chili, I got a bad report card. On Thursday, I got a bad report card because I had you in a short sleeve onesie and it is too cold for that. On Friday, I got a bad report card because you had outgrown the outfit you were in. I think the exact words were "This should be the last time he wears this outfit." So, you passed with flying colors but your mom got lots of detention slips!

You are sleeping so much better at night but you are still not sleeping enough overall. You only slept 90 minutes all day at daycare on Friday. Mary said you are sleeping too little and eating too much. She said that you get really fussy when you are hungry and you don't get your food quick enough. I will take credit for that - me and my side of the family do like our food and we like it pronto. :) Friday night, we didn't do a whole lot. You slept a bit and we did a video chat with Auntie Val. You were so tired she only got a couple of smiles from you. You were a rock star sleeper Friday night - 10 pm until 4 am! Woohoo.


Saturday -
What a big day buddy! We had Baby Jake's shower where you were passed around the room to be loved up!

After the shower, we stripped you nekked and did a mini photo shoot. I can't wait to see how Sherry's photos turned out. I love this one on my camera and she had tons more!

We let you sleep a bit then we took you to the pool for the first time. I was so hyped to get you into the pool. I went to get your swim trunks - I bought one of each size. Ummm...one would not even fit your thigh. One would be a total speedo and thank goodness we had the "Medium". We bought you a swim shirt to keep you warm but, um.... it wouldn't go over your head. We decided to can that. Here you are in all your glory - check out those trunks!


Here is our before photo - you were in the pool but no water yet.

You cried at first - the water was a bit cold for a little guy like you. But, after a second, you liked it and you were a kid magnet. We barely got in the pool and we were surrounded by lots of kiddos. They asked me all sorts of things - Is he yours? Is he a boy? How old is he? What is his name?

You did great in the pool. I was so proud of you. We only stayed in for about 5 minutes or so because you were cold. But, next time, we will try for 10 minutes and do more activity with you. This time, we were in a hurry because the pool was closing and we couldn't do much with the kiddos surrounding us. Next time, we will work on our kick-kick-kick!



You were tired afterwards and slept some more!


Honestly Baby Lijah - it is days like today when I wonder how your dad and I survived without you. Seeing all those people wanting to love you up, seeing you in your photo shoot, talking to you and having you smile right back, seeing you in a pool and knowing how much we have to teach you. It was a gold star day! Now, I just have to keep you awake for awhile so you will sleep good again tonight.

February 24th and 25th

Hi Baby!
Each day gets easier with you going to daycare! No more tears! Yesterday morning, I was putting you in your carseat. I said to you "Bye baby, you have a good day with your new friends." You gave me the biggest smile! Makes me feel like you really do enjoy it. I have met almost all of the kiddos that you hang out with and they are pretty darn cute. It sure does seem like they like Baby Lijah - each time I pick you up, they say bye to you and give you hugs. I think you are happy there.

After daycare yesterday, we stopped to see Great Gramma and she had your Valentine's Day presents. She even made you a new horsey blanket. She was happy to see you - it had been almost two weeks. For dinner, we met Gramma Debi D at Panera - who gave you more goodies. She helped me keep you awake so you would sleep better at night. She loved you up and was surprised at how darn big you are. She is now ready for you to come visit and be babysat by her.

You did a great job sleeping last night. I kept you up all evening until 10 pm. You slept from 10-2 then ate and fell back asleep until 6. Daddy was so happy!!

I took this photo to text your cousin Brandi. She was worried that we don't dress you in anything besides your ducky onsie.


February 25
Not much to tell except you are pretty darn cute! You seem so much happier these days. I don't know if your tummy is feeling better, if you are just getting bigger, if you like daycare that much or if I am just spending more time talking to you. In any case, I so enjoy spending the evenings with you, talking to you and watching you smile. You are getting to be more fun and more active. No more newborn just sitting there!

For 3 nights in a row, we have done baths. We have done them for a couple of reasons - 1) You get a stinky butt! 2) You love the water and now you are splashing around. You are almost too big for your yellow tub. We are going to have to move you to the big tub soon. 3) it keeps you awake a bit longer and I think it helps to put you asleep a bit after we are done. I can't wait until we take you to the pool this weekend.

You were the best baby ever last night on mom's night - slept 10-3 then 3:30 - 6! Great job Elijah. That was your best night ever.

Daddy came up and took photos of you for me. I love Baby Lijah bath photos.

February 23

Hi Lijah!
Well, little one, we survived day 2! It went much smoother for us, huh? No tears from mommy! You got a good report again today from Mary. When I picked you up, I let you sleep for a bit but set a deadline of when you had to be awake. You were awake all evening! Daddy took you over to Gramma Ruth's house while I went to dinner with Grampa Keith & Heather. Your Grampa Keith bought you a stroller for his house so he can come get you from daycare and spend time with you when the weather gets warmer. He also requested an Elijah date for next weekend so he can show you off to his friends. I am not kidding when I say that you need your own social calendar, kiddo! We are still trying to plan a get together with Levi, get you down to see Aunt Becky & Uncle Steve and get you over Gramma Debi D's house. I am getting a sneak peek at what it will be like to be your taxi driver when you are in school and have activities.

Before I went to dinner, I had you in the bathroom with me while I was doing my hair. We were acting silly together and I took some silly photos. You were in such good spirits - such big smiles. After dinner, it was bath time. I was using it as a method to keep you awake longer but you also needed it. You were still in such a good mood all those hours later. I was singing to you while you were in the tub "Lijah has a stinky butt." You would just smile at me. You really do love the tub and I really like it when "Lijah's not a stinky butt" - the song we sing after bath time.

Sleep was a bit better on Mommy's watch tonight. You weren't awake for hours at a time overnight so I feel like I got a bit of rest. We will have to hope that you do just as well for daddy tomorrow night as he is still tired from last night.

February 22

Hi Elijah!
Well, today was your big day buddy! You were off to daycare and your mom stayed home and cried! I really am shocked at my reaction to you going to daycare. Your dad was a little shocked at me too. Mary called me around 10 to let me know that you were doing fine and you were already playing with the kiddos. I was able to resist picking you up until 3:45! You got your first report card and Mary said you had a great day but in the afternoon you got a little bit overtired.

She was surprised at how little you slept. You slept for 20 minutes then would wake up wanting to be picked up. We are back to that spoiling thing again! Your dad and I have kind of created a bad situation here. We always want you spend time with any of our friends and family that want to hang out with you. But, when people want to hang out with you and love you up, they want to hold you all of the time. I can't blame them because you are pretty darn cute when you are sleeping! We gotta break that cycle though because you need to be able to nap on your own without being held. Shouldn't be too hard to break the cycle this week because I don't think I am going to be able to let you go over anyone's house for very long since I miss you so much! On the other hand, your dad and I definitely have to get back to the gym pronto!

The night was not good baby! You slept too much in the evening then was up from 1-4 am overnight. We will have to try again tonight to get this figured out.

Anyway Lijah, we survived the first day! You made new friends and mommy relied on her friends' support to get her through the day!

I took a photo of you in our favorite ducky outfit. You wore this all the time when you were a newborn and we ended up with two sizes. I thought it was a 6 month size but it was a 3 month. Won't be wearing it too much longer!

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.