Eli is 6 weeks old!!!

Wow how time flies by. Our little man Eli is now 6 weeks 2 days old! I can't believe it. Life has been so crazy over the past 6 weeks that I have haven't had much time to do anything other than care for Eli and myself, but he is napping in his swing right now (or at least hanging out in the swing quietly) so I thought I would post as much as I could for now :-)

So what have we been up to for the past 6 weeks? Of course Eli was born on Sunday June 1 (Father's Day) and we came home from the hospital 2 days later. I don't really remember much from that first week because I was so sleep deprived and so focused on learning how to care for Eli. We didn't really leave the house much at first. Jeff got 10 days off for paid paternity leave (thank you US government) which was AWESOME. My mom also was here to help. Between the three of us we managed somehow to take care of this little man. At first he would wake up several times a night to eat and would be up and down all day but mostly slept a lot. It was even hard to keep him awake to eat a full meal! I have been breast feeding from the very beginning and the first 2 weeks were pretty rough (and painful) but after a visit to the hospital lactation consultant and lots of practice and lanolin cream, Eli and I got the hang of it. I also have been pumping some to freeze and occasionally giving him a bottle.

Around 3 weeks after he was born, Wanda, Jeff's mom, flew out to spend a week with us. Jeff took that week off from work as well. We had a great time! Wanda made some delicious food for us and we now have some stashed in our freezer for later use, which for now is such a great present. Thanks Wanda! Again we didn't really do too much, mainly stayed home, but we did have the professional newborn pics taken while she was here. They turned out great! I will post them later in another post. Eli did really well, is a natural poser, and fell asleep for the second half which was perfect. I highly recommend spending the money to get nice pics like these, they are beautiful and we will have them forever to remember our little man. Our photographer is Ashlie Hilton, http://ashliephotography.com/blog. She is the same person who took the maternity pics 2 weeks before Eli was born. We bought a package deal that allows 3 photo sessions, so we are trying to have the 3rd session before Christmas. I can't wait!

After Wanda left, another week went by then my dad and my sister Laura came out to visit. We also had a great time! Jeff was back to work by then, so my family and I spent our days relaxing, playing cards and Cranium, and sitting in the inflatable pool mom bought that we set up on m back patio. We let Eli lay in a giant inflated duck that is supposed to be a bathtub but it made a great little boat for Eli (with constant monitoring by us of course). I will post a video in a later post showing him in his little duck boat. It was so great having them here. Then a week ago today they all flew home, and since then I have been adjusting to staying home caring for Eli by myself while Jeff works. It took me a few days to adjust, but I'm doing pretty well with it now. I must admit, the lack of adult interaction during the day is hard! I got pretty spoiled by having my mom here with me constantly for the first 5+ weeks! This definitely makes me really miss home (VA) so much more.

So what is going on with little man Eli at 6 weeks of age?
- He is growing like a little weed! He began at 6 lbs 14 oz and is now somewhere over 9 lbs, I would guess close to 9.5 lbs at least. He has definitely gotten much longer too and is thickening up, he has already outgrown some of his newborn clothes. We can definitely tell the different when we put him in his car seat or swing, he has to have grown several inches at least. I think we might have a tall skinny boy!

- He is a good sleeper, thank God. He usually nurses around 9 pm then passes out until around 3 am, nurses then passes out again until 5-7 am when he nurses again then sometimes takes another nap. He has been sleeping this way for 2-3 weeks, I actually don't feel sleep deprived! I usually get a good 7 hours of sleep. Last night he was asleep before 9 pm, nursed at 2 am then slept until 6 am, was up for an hour or so then slept for another half hour.

- For the first 5 weeks we had him sleeping in our room, sometimes in his bedside bassinet and sometimes in bed with us. I loved being able to snuggle up with him at night, and it made nursing in the middle of the night so much easier. However I decided after my family left that it was time to move him to his crib, in his own room, because a) he liked to kick me in the tummy in the middle of the night and he took up as much room in the bed as I did, which didn't leave much room for me, b) I would wake up several times worrying about rolling onto him (this never happened of course but I just wanted to make sure) and c) when I return to work in 6 weeks I need him to be in his own bed sleeping pretty much through the night and I figure it is better to get him used to that before the time came. Note that I couldn't move him into his own room until my family left because we had people sleeping on a mattress in his room. Next week I plan to start putting him to bed at night awake and working on a bedtime routine so he can learn to put himself to sleep and we also need to work on naps (he doesn't really like taking naps much during the day unless he falls asleep in his car seat or swing). This will involve some "cry it out" sessions which I am hesitant about but I think it is the right thing to do. I just hate the idea of my baby thinking I abandoned him!

- He is a very gassy baby, has been since birth pretty much. It will get very painful for him and he will squirm around and curl up and just cry and cry. We tried Mylicon drops but they didn't help at all. The pediatrician had me try elminating dairy products from my diet in case he is sensitive to cows milk protien. Anyone who knows me very well knows how hard this has been for me, but I haven't had any dairy products or even anythin with dairy as an ingredient for about 3 weeks. Then right before his 1 month apointment he started having some blood in his stools and they had me also remove wheat products from my diet because they thought this was due to a food sensitivity or allergy. So basically I'm on a baby imposed Atkin's diet! Ha. But so far removing things from my diet hasn't really helped at all. The only thing that has helped so far with the gas is gripe water (we use Baby's Bliss http://www.babysbliss.com). It has definitely cut down on the gas and pain, but he still has some blood in his diapers, so we probably need to get back to the doctor.

- Eli is now alternating between disposable diapers (Pampers size 1 - he already outgrew newborn diapers!) and our BumGenius 3.0 cloth diapers (we got ours from Target http://www.target.com/bumGenius-2-pack-Neutral/dp/B001DOI8AG/sr=1-4/qid=1249406715/ref=sr_1_4/187-3029376-2907013?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&frombrowse=0&index=target&rh=k%3Abumgenius&page=1). At first he was too small for the cloth diapers, but now they fit pretty well, although we did have a small leak the other day because his leg are still so skinny. The cloth diapers are working well, they are very soft and very cute, although still a little big on him. I only use them during the day when we are home because they are much bulkier than disposables so clothes don't fit as well and I'm concerned about leaks at night. I think they were a good investment though, disposable diapers get epxensive, especially with a baby who goes through as many as Eli does! I also have been using cloth wipes which is a huge money saver and probably better for his skin. I bought cheap baby washclothes and a wipe warmer (I bought a Prince Lionheart http://www.target.com/Prince-Lionheart-Warmies-Wipes-Warmer/dp/B001QIN6ME/sr=1-7/qid=1249406847/ref=sr_1_7/187-3029376-2907013?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&frombrowse=0&index=target&field-original-keywords=wiper%20warmer&rh=k%3Awipes%20warmer&page=1) , I fold the wipes in half, wet them and put them in and keep it at my changing table, then I have wet warm cloth wipes ready whenever I need them. I use a cleaning solution called Kissaluvs (http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/other.htm#potion) that you mix with witch hazel and keep in a spray bottle. I just spray it on his bottom then wipe with a washcloth and this seems to be much cleaner, quicker, and better smelling than disposable wipes! And it really has seemed to help keep away diaper rash. I highly recommend this. And with both the cloth diapers and wipes, you don't have to rinse or anything, just throw them in a trash can with a lid (I have 2 of these waterproof washable trashcan liners that go right in the washing machine with the dirty stuff http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/other.htm#pailliner) then when it's time to wash just throw everything into the washing machine and wash one hot then one cold cycle and try in the dryer then they are ready to go. Very easy, really! I hope I can keep up with is once I go back to work, we already found one daycare who says they will allow cloth diaper usage.

- Eli is getting really good at holding his head up. However, he usually very much despises tummy time. Also, if I give him tumy time too soon after eating he will spit up a bunch which is no good. 2 weeks ago he rolled over multiple time 2 days in a row, but since then has refused to do this again! Ornery boy. We will keep working on it. Sometimes I left him have tumy time while paying on my chest, he likes that much better.

- Eli's eye sight seems to be getting better and he is much more alert. He loved to be held up to my shoulder and look around at the world. He loves looking out the window and he loves going outside (when it isn't too hot which is rarely right now) and listen to the birds while swinging on our patio swing. He will now track my face if I move it while holding him and he will track a rattle. I saw him notice and watch his mobile for the first time a few days ago. And he loves looking at his cloth book which has great simple pictures in contrasting colors. He is developing a little each day, it is really amazing to watch. I think he is trying to start smiling as well, a few times I think he may have smiled at me for real (rather than smiling because he had gas) but I'm not sure. Soon enough I'm sure!

Well that's all I can think of for now. Now I'm going to try to post some pictures and videos before little man wakes up!