Eli had a cold for about 2 weeks. He seems to have gotten over his cold, but Jeff and I are sick now. I'm feeling almost better, but Jeff now thinks he may have the flu! I'm glad I went ahead and paid to get a flu shot before I went back to work, although of course it wasn't the H1N1 shot so I'm not fully protected. Jeff is quarantined in the guest room for now. It may just be from the chicken wings he ate last night though, we will see. We were planning on going to a pumpkin patch and corn maze with Eli this morning but hopefully we can do it next weekend, I think Eli would enjoy it. Tomorrow is a 5k run we do every year, hopefully we will both be feeling well enough to do it. Eli has been developing a lot lately! He is using his hands a lot more, and last night for the first time I saw him grab a toy (and chew on it) while he was laying on his tummy. He will do tummy time for quite a bit longer now before getting mad, and he holds his head and upper body up pretty well. He rolled over twice about 2 weeks ago but nothing since then, little stinker. He often will roll from his back onto his side though, so that is a start.
As of yesterday he will put his entire body weight on his legs and hold himself standing up! We have to balance him but he holds himself up, I can't believe it. I think he will be an early walker. He doesn't use his hands and arms as much as I thought he would at this age though, but we are working on it. We have this small yellow blanket with a duck head on it and he likes to hold it and stuff it into his mouth. I figure that will help improve his hand coordination.
He still can't seem to figure out his sleep routine. For at least a good month he would go to sleep between 6:30-7:30 pm and sleep until around 6 am, only waking up slightly around 9:30 pm when I would wake him up before I went to bed to top him off with a small bottle. This of course was wonderful for me, especially going back to work. However, during his second or third week at daycare, he decided to start waking up once in the middle of the night again! Sometimes a binky is all he needs to go back to sleep, but often he won't go back to sleep until I give him a bottle. Then he seems to eat less during the day because he had an extra feeding at night, which seems to cause the pattern to keep repeating because he didn't get enough to eat during the day. We have had some nights where he will sleep all night, but not enough! I thought I had it figured out for a while: he got his last bottle at daycare, which was usually a pretty big bottle, around 4 pm, so then he wasn't hungry enough at 6 pm to eat a fully bottle before sleep, then would be too drowsy at 9:30 pm to eat much either, so he would wake up in the middle of the night hungry because he hadn't eatenmuch since 4 pm. So I started putting him to bed at 6-6:30 pm without feeding him (this is fine because he isn't hungry), then feeing him a bigger bottle at 9:30 pm, and he began sleeping through the night again. This stopped again last night though, I did the same thing and he still woke up at 3 am and ate a full 3 oz bottle! So I don't know what to do, I guess he will just outgrow it at some point, maybe he is going through some weird growth spurt. I'm afraid though of letting him get into the habit of waking and eating in the middle of the night when he doesn't really need it, I don't want this to become "normal"... I know I'm extremely lucky to have a baby who will only wake up once in the night, but still, not waking up at all is better! I'm hoping Jeff's work schedule will slow down some soon so he can start giving Eli his 9:30 pm bottle so I can go to bed earlier, we will see though.
The daycare people think Eli may be starting to teeth! He drools all the time and usually wears a bib all day for this, and everything goes straight into his mouth to chew on. Sometimes he gags himself with his hands! I can see two little bumps in the front of his lower jaw but I have no idea if they look like they are starting to move up or if that is what baby jaws just look like. We go to the pediatrician for his 4 month appointment and shots in 2 weeks so I will ask her then. I'm also excited to see how much he has grown!!!
Apparently Eli is an extremely happy baby compared to others. The daycare ladies say he just smiles and smiles all the time and hardly cries. He is a smiler at home too, and a giggler, he always giggles when I change him -- his arms and chest and neck are ticklish -- and he loves to smile at me and at himself in a mirror, although sometimes he seems to be shy of his own reflection. He especially loves to smile really big when he is practicing his standing on my lap, he just loves it. He has also started making more noises, often he sounds like a dolfin! He makes high pitches squeaking noises when he gets excited and sometimes when he wants my attention. He apparently does this to Jeff when he picks him up from daycare, but mommy only gets a smile. I guess daddy is more exciting than mommy :-) However it appears that he won't go to sleep at night until I am home and put him down myself, last week Jeff picked him up so I could run at the gym and tried putting Eli to bed but he wouldn't go to sleep until I got home, held him then put him to bed again. I guess daddy is exciting, but mommy is comforting :-)
As for me, work is going well, it is nice to be back. It is different now though, because I can't come in early or stay late anymore because I feel bad leaving little man in daycare any longer than necessary. I have been working on exercising when I can, which is hard to do, especially with Jeff's hectic and unpredictable work schedule. I have been running at the gym about 2 times a week, each time running a 5k (3.1 miles) on a treadmill. It feels great, and I am getting faster, this past Tuesday I did it in 32 minutes which is under an eleven minute mile, which for someone who didn't run for about 11 months, that's not too bad! I also have started going to the gym at work a few times a week during my lunch break and lifting weights. I still haven't lost a single pound in over a month, but my pants seem to be getting looser so hopefully I'm just adding muscle and burning fat and soon the weight will start coming off. I really don't want to have to spend any more money on bigger sized clothing!
Here are pictures from the past two weeks.
Eli in his Real Tree camo bib:
We are getting better with the bumbo chair!
At the zoo for the GEICO picnic
Yes, I am the coolest baby EVER.
How I get work done in the kitchen:
This is the duck blanket:
Modeling the new bib
Preparing for a nap
