Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Pulling Himself Up!
On Monday, Eli pulled himself up to stand all by himself for the first time! He got to stay home with daddy Monday due to President's Day, and he was supposed to be napping but Jeff went in to check on him and he was standing up in his crib, holding on to the railing, just looking around his room! Crazy. And the little monkey keeps trying to stand up in the bathtub now too. He still isn't really crawling, more like dragging himself around the floor with his arms, so I suspect he might be one of those babies that just skips crawling and starts running around. We shall see!
Friday, February 12, 2010
7 Month Pics and Videos
Here are some pictures and videos from the past month, as you can see we got quite a bit of snow in our mountains!
Eli is almost 8 months old now. I'm pretty sure he said "momma" like he meant it the other day, he wanted me to pick him up. I also think he said "bye bye" after I said it when I was getting off the phone with my mom. He isn't crawling for real yet, but he drags himself along the tile floor with his arms to get where he wants to go, it's pretty funny! He will figure it out soon and then we will be in big trouble in afraid. We are already starting to move stuff up out of his reach. And he is getting pretty good with his sippy cup now, I think he actually can get water out of it! The silly boy LOVES water, who knows why but I'm glad he does.
Eli is almost 8 months old now. I'm pretty sure he said "momma" like he meant it the other day, he wanted me to pick him up. I also think he said "bye bye" after I said it when I was getting off the phone with my mom. He isn't crawling for real yet, but he drags himself along the tile floor with his arms to get where he wants to go, it's pretty funny! He will figure it out soon and then we will be in big trouble in afraid. We are already starting to move stuff up out of his reach. And he is getting pretty good with his sippy cup now, I think he actually can get water out of it! The silly boy LOVES water, who knows why but I'm glad he does.
Random 6 Month Videos and Pictures
Eli still doesn't really like to eat baby food and usually refuses to eat any for me. So I usually give him the bowl and spoon and he has fun playing in it. Can't you tell? This was a carrot day.
Eli was sitting well at this time but he would still fall over sometimes, so I put my snuggle body pillow around him, it worked really well.
Nice hair!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
7 Month Update
I have a lot to update on our little man! He is growing up way too fast.
A week before we went home for Christmas (around Dec. 12, about 5.5 months old) he started sitting up on his own. At first he would fall over pretty easily, but he is a pro now!
Around the same time, Eli also came down with his first ear infection. That one seemed to go away after round one of antibiotics. The last weekend we were home, he came down with the same symptoms, we had him looked at by our family physician and he didn't have an ear infection but his throat was red - round 2 of antibiotics. Then about a week after getting home, he came down with ear infection #2! This led to antibiotics round #3. This finally cleared it up and, knock on wood, he hasn't had another one yet. A few weeks later he did however come down with a short-lived viral infection with the only symptom of a fever up to 104 F! Luckily it only lasted a few days and he never had any other problems, but that was pretty scary!
At his 6 month appointment (which was more like 6.5 months) he weighed 17 lbs 9 oz, and was 28.5 inches long. Such a big boy! He is still tall and skinny for his age.
When Eli had his second ear infection, the pediatrician (not the one he usually sees) wanted to try him on normal formula, to see if his allergy/sensitivity has gone away. We first tried regular formula made with cows milk and that made him have diarrhea and bad eczema. Then we tried a soy formula, his eczema stayed as bad but then he was super constipated. Poor little man! So when we saw our normal pediatrician 2 weeks later, she put us back on his special formula. So while it stinks that he still has problems with dairy and soy, it is nice that we can still get our health insurance pay for it! He is back on his special formula now and doing well.
About 2 weeks ago, his first tooth finally broke through the skin (front bottom), and a few days ago the second broke though (also front bottom)! It appears though that he has really slow moving teeth because his teeth are still just barely above the gum line, who knows when they will finally be fully in.
We finally got Eli into the base daycare a week ago! While we are very sad to leave our first daycare (Kindercare on Gold Links), the new daycare is really nice and saves us $50 a week! Eli seems to really like it, although I think he likes it too much because all he wants to do is play, he won't take good naps or even hardly eat during the day. Hopefully this will change once he gets used to it! Unfortunately since he doesn't eat enough during the day, he has been requiring more food at night, including a bottle either around 10 pm or 3 am, then he wakes up hungry around 4:30 am. We have had success lately getting him to sleep until 6 or so if we feed him around 10 pm then give him a binky and turn on his mobile when he wakes up at 4:30 am. But that is getting old, especially since he used to sleep 12 hours straight!
Eli is on the verge of crawling! About 1-2 weeks ago he started getting up on his hands and knees a little, and now he will get up like that and rock back and forth and try to figure out how to reach a toy, but for now he just plops back down on his tummy. I think he will be crawling by the end of February! We are so in for it. He also loves standing up, he will lock his little body straight so he can't even sit down. If he is sitting, he will grab onto my fingers and stand himself up. And we have started standing him up at his play table and he can stand there leaning on it by himself for a while, so strong! He doesn't seem interested in walking yet, but I think one he starts crawling, it won't be long before he is pulling himself up to a stand.
Eli has started doing this little "dance" sometimes, it is too cute. He will move his head left to right and sometimes move his body the opposite direction. We can't really figure out why he does this, but he seems to be having fun!
He also seems to be getting closer to talking. He loves to make noises and he makes lots of different talking-type sounds all the time. His most common sound though is a "huh" sound he makes if he wants our attention or if he just is trying to tell us something.
We started Eli on solid food around Christmas time, but he really doesn't like it very much! Especially food on a spoon, he will eat it some at daycare but he will hardly eat anything I try to feed him on a spoon. He does though love the Gerber puffs (and Target brand puffs) and the baby rice cakes called Baby Mum Mum, he seems to like feeding himself. So I think I'm going to try giving him more foods that he can pick up and feed himself. This morning I gave him pieces of mushed up avocado and he seemed to like it! So I think that is going to be my plan, giving him really soft small pieces of mushed up real food until I know he can chew then give more solid pieces as tolerated. Hopefully that will work, he needs some food!
I'm sure there is more to update but I can't think of it now, if I do I will post it!
A week before we went home for Christmas (around Dec. 12, about 5.5 months old) he started sitting up on his own. At first he would fall over pretty easily, but he is a pro now!
Around the same time, Eli also came down with his first ear infection. That one seemed to go away after round one of antibiotics. The last weekend we were home, he came down with the same symptoms, we had him looked at by our family physician and he didn't have an ear infection but his throat was red - round 2 of antibiotics. Then about a week after getting home, he came down with ear infection #2! This led to antibiotics round #3. This finally cleared it up and, knock on wood, he hasn't had another one yet. A few weeks later he did however come down with a short-lived viral infection with the only symptom of a fever up to 104 F! Luckily it only lasted a few days and he never had any other problems, but that was pretty scary!
At his 6 month appointment (which was more like 6.5 months) he weighed 17 lbs 9 oz, and was 28.5 inches long. Such a big boy! He is still tall and skinny for his age.
When Eli had his second ear infection, the pediatrician (not the one he usually sees) wanted to try him on normal formula, to see if his allergy/sensitivity has gone away. We first tried regular formula made with cows milk and that made him have diarrhea and bad eczema. Then we tried a soy formula, his eczema stayed as bad but then he was super constipated. Poor little man! So when we saw our normal pediatrician 2 weeks later, she put us back on his special formula. So while it stinks that he still has problems with dairy and soy, it is nice that we can still get our health insurance pay for it! He is back on his special formula now and doing well.
About 2 weeks ago, his first tooth finally broke through the skin (front bottom), and a few days ago the second broke though (also front bottom)! It appears though that he has really slow moving teeth because his teeth are still just barely above the gum line, who knows when they will finally be fully in.
We finally got Eli into the base daycare a week ago! While we are very sad to leave our first daycare (Kindercare on Gold Links), the new daycare is really nice and saves us $50 a week! Eli seems to really like it, although I think he likes it too much because all he wants to do is play, he won't take good naps or even hardly eat during the day. Hopefully this will change once he gets used to it! Unfortunately since he doesn't eat enough during the day, he has been requiring more food at night, including a bottle either around 10 pm or 3 am, then he wakes up hungry around 4:30 am. We have had success lately getting him to sleep until 6 or so if we feed him around 10 pm then give him a binky and turn on his mobile when he wakes up at 4:30 am. But that is getting old, especially since he used to sleep 12 hours straight!
Eli is on the verge of crawling! About 1-2 weeks ago he started getting up on his hands and knees a little, and now he will get up like that and rock back and forth and try to figure out how to reach a toy, but for now he just plops back down on his tummy. I think he will be crawling by the end of February! We are so in for it. He also loves standing up, he will lock his little body straight so he can't even sit down. If he is sitting, he will grab onto my fingers and stand himself up. And we have started standing him up at his play table and he can stand there leaning on it by himself for a while, so strong! He doesn't seem interested in walking yet, but I think one he starts crawling, it won't be long before he is pulling himself up to a stand.
Eli has started doing this little "dance" sometimes, it is too cute. He will move his head left to right and sometimes move his body the opposite direction. We can't really figure out why he does this, but he seems to be having fun!
He also seems to be getting closer to talking. He loves to make noises and he makes lots of different talking-type sounds all the time. His most common sound though is a "huh" sound he makes if he wants our attention or if he just is trying to tell us something.
We started Eli on solid food around Christmas time, but he really doesn't like it very much! Especially food on a spoon, he will eat it some at daycare but he will hardly eat anything I try to feed him on a spoon. He does though love the Gerber puffs (and Target brand puffs) and the baby rice cakes called Baby Mum Mum, he seems to like feeding himself. So I think I'm going to try giving him more foods that he can pick up and feed himself. This morning I gave him pieces of mushed up avocado and he seemed to like it! So I think that is going to be my plan, giving him really soft small pieces of mushed up real food until I know he can chew then give more solid pieces as tolerated. Hopefully that will work, he needs some food!
I'm sure there is more to update but I can't think of it now, if I do I will post it!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Christmas 2009
Ok so I know this is waaaaaay overdue but I have been really busy! So here are our Christmas vacation pictures with some brief words about the trip.
Of course, the day before we are flying home, one of the worst snow storms in decades hits the East Coast! In this picture we are sitting in the Tucson airport, having no idea when we would actually make it to VA. When we left our house for the airport, our 2nd flight from Chicago to Richmond was still on, but by the time we got to the airport it had been cancelled. Luckily, we were able to still fly into Chicago that day, spend the night there, then catch an 8 am flight into Richmond the next morning. Honestly, that night in the Chicago hotel was probably our most relaxing, Eli went right to sleep on the second bed (surrounded by lots of pillows!) and we watched tv and had pizza and beer. We made it in to Richmond fine the next morning, but the roads were so bad that ti took us longer to get to Grottoes than it took us to fly from Chicago to Richmond!
Eli sporting his warm winter hat. I was very paranoid that he would freeze, but he did well!
In his warm fleece set that Aunt Laura bought for him, this was plenty warm!
In the car seat. His eyes are still bright blue!
Eating with Aunt Laura. She is good at this!
Uncle Bob had fun playing with little man.
Eli and Grandma Edith.
Eli, O'pa and O'ma at my parent's house. My cousin Ley in the background.
Taking a bath at Nanny's house (Jeff's mom). Several nights we drove over to her house after she got off work and had dinner and slept there. I was worried that it would be too much for Eli but he just went along with it!
Chewing on daddy's mail.
At my parent's house.
Cleaning turkeys for Christmas day dinner. Of course we didn't let Eli touch anything but he didn't mind.
Sponaugle family Christmas in my sister's basement. We had a great time! I think this picture is funny because it looks like I have antlers coming out of my head!
We had Eli baptised (apparently they don't call it christening anymore???) Christmas Eve at our home church.
Christmas Eve at Laura's house.
Christmas morning at my parent's house. Eli got lots of toys and books!
Dad loves his new lounge chair!
Jeff likes to cut the turkey because he can snack on it.
Christmas lunch at my parents' house
After Christmas lunch, we went over the Jason and Wendy's house, Jeff's brother and sister in law. I was so wrapped up in that that I didn't take many pictures! But here is one of Waylon with the custom Sesame Street book we gave him (with his picture and name in it), he loved it!
I got to go visit Diana, my good friend since preschool. Here we are at her house with out little men, Eli and Payton. Eli had an ear infection coming on that day so he was not a happy camper!
Eli in his snow suit! He could hardly move!
Eli and granddaddy.
Our last full day at home, we had hog butchering day. We did 6 pigs, that's a lot of meat! But we got to bring home 50 pounds of pork, yum!
Eli and granddaddy.
Our last full day at home, we had hog butchering day. We did 6 pigs, that's a lot of meat! But we got to bring home 50 pounds of pork, yum!
One big kettle of lard.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Christmas Vacation Videos
Eli passed out, of course, about half an hour BEFORE we got on the plane. How can this be comfortable??? Here we are in Tucson, waiting for our flight to Chicago.
Eli with his great grandparents O'ma and O'pa, and Grandma Edith, at my parent's house.
Eli did not like his new hat!
Aunt Laura giving Eli a bath in Nanny's sink. He splashes so much that we have to put towels down everywhere!
Of course we had to take Eli to Jesse's!!! He couldn't try the food, but momma sure could!
Toes are fun!
And toes are yummy! Yes, Laura had just taken a shower.
This was on Christmas Eve, after Eli was baptized at our home church. Jeff read "The Night Before Christmas" to Eli, then we had some fun before bedtime. Grandma Sponaugle started playing a peekaboo game with Eli, he thought it was the best game ever!
We spent Christmas morning at my parents' house with my mom and dad (grandma and granddaddy), Jeff's mom (Nanny), and Laura and Caleb. Here are some videos:
O'ma and O'pa joined us for a Christmas day lunch.
Look at all the toys he got!
We introduced a sippy cup, he seems to really like water! He doesn't really understand it yet though, of course, and often he just likes to chew on the cup. He does really well drinking water straight out of a cup, if we hold it for him.
The day after Christmas, we had our annual pig slaughter at the farm, we did 6 pigs this year! We brought home over 50 pounds of pork! It was cold out though, so I bundled Eli up in the snow suit grandma bought him. He could hardly move, but he was warm!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
A Short Update
Ok so I know I have been REALLY BAD at updating this blog lately! Life has been crazy, between Jeff being way too busy, my job being what it is, getting ready for Christmas, Eli getting sick... ugh. So here is just a brief update :-)
Eli is almost 6 months old! His most recent achievement is learning to sit. He can't sit up by himself from the floor, but if I sit him up, he will sit upright for quite some time before eventually toppling over. It happened out of the blue about a week ago. Before that, he learned to roll from his back onto his belly, but he still hasn't figured out how to roll back onto his back so he rolls onto his belly, plays for a while then gets pissed off and starts crying/screaming. I tell him that he shouldn't roll over if he doesn't want to be there but he won't listen (stubborn like his daddy). One of his biggest achievements lately has been sleeping 12 hours straight at night! For the past few months, he would sleep 6:30 pm - 6:30 am but we would feed him before we went to bed. A week ago I cut out the night bottle and it didn't bother him at all, it's wonderful! I hope this doesn't change, I know it could but it seems like he may just be a good little sleepr.
He loves his feet and plays with them all the times, including when he is sitting up which causes him to topple over, it is pretty cute. He also loves to grab his feet while he is sitting in his high chair. We have slowly started him on solid foods but he doesn't really like them too much for now, I'm hoping in another month or so he comes around. He does seem to like pear and banana baby food. I keep meaning to buy whole fruits to mash or cut up for him to chew on but that would require going to the grocery store, something we haven't done in a while! He is getting really good with his hands and will reach for things he wants. We also think he is teething, we can see white bumps on his lower front jaw and EVERYTHING goes straight in his mouth. A few days ago he chewed a hole in some of my coupons after he grabbed them out of my hand.
Eli also had his first ear infection on Monday :-( He woke up with a fever and was fussy. I got him into the pediatrician's office that morning and we got him on antibiotics immediately and he is fine now, but he was a pretty miserable baby that first day. But while at the doctor office, we found out he is now 16 pounds 9 ounces! Chunker! So by the time he turns 6 months old he will have put on around 10 pounds since birth! Geez. He still doesn't look too chubby though, he is really tall so the weight spreads out on his frame. And we think he has a huge head, big brain I guess.
We head home Saturday for a week in Virginia, we are so excited! And of course the day we fly in, there is a winter storm warning, they are calling for a snow storm, great! Hopefully we can even make it there. We are going to freeze, it is in the 70s here!!!!! Wish us luck!
Eli is almost 6 months old! His most recent achievement is learning to sit. He can't sit up by himself from the floor, but if I sit him up, he will sit upright for quite some time before eventually toppling over. It happened out of the blue about a week ago. Before that, he learned to roll from his back onto his belly, but he still hasn't figured out how to roll back onto his back so he rolls onto his belly, plays for a while then gets pissed off and starts crying/screaming. I tell him that he shouldn't roll over if he doesn't want to be there but he won't listen (stubborn like his daddy). One of his biggest achievements lately has been sleeping 12 hours straight at night! For the past few months, he would sleep 6:30 pm - 6:30 am but we would feed him before we went to bed. A week ago I cut out the night bottle and it didn't bother him at all, it's wonderful! I hope this doesn't change, I know it could but it seems like he may just be a good little sleepr.
He loves his feet and plays with them all the times, including when he is sitting up which causes him to topple over, it is pretty cute. He also loves to grab his feet while he is sitting in his high chair. We have slowly started him on solid foods but he doesn't really like them too much for now, I'm hoping in another month or so he comes around. He does seem to like pear and banana baby food. I keep meaning to buy whole fruits to mash or cut up for him to chew on but that would require going to the grocery store, something we haven't done in a while! He is getting really good with his hands and will reach for things he wants. We also think he is teething, we can see white bumps on his lower front jaw and EVERYTHING goes straight in his mouth. A few days ago he chewed a hole in some of my coupons after he grabbed them out of my hand.
Eli also had his first ear infection on Monday :-( He woke up with a fever and was fussy. I got him into the pediatrician's office that morning and we got him on antibiotics immediately and he is fine now, but he was a pretty miserable baby that first day. But while at the doctor office, we found out he is now 16 pounds 9 ounces! Chunker! So by the time he turns 6 months old he will have put on around 10 pounds since birth! Geez. He still doesn't look too chubby though, he is really tall so the weight spreads out on his frame. And we think he has a huge head, big brain I guess.
We head home Saturday for a week in Virginia, we are so excited! And of course the day we fly in, there is a winter storm warning, they are calling for a snow storm, great! Hopefully we can even make it there. We are going to freeze, it is in the 70s here!!!!! Wish us luck!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Pictures Update - Weeks 16 - 23!
Here are some pictures from the past few weeks, I will add another post to give a good update on Eli when I can find time!
We ran our first 5k as a family in October. We ran the 2009 Tucson Aids Walk at the University of Arizona campus, Jeff pushing Eli in the jogging stroller and me doing my best to keep up. We all made it without having to stop! I was pretty happy to be able to do that 4 months after having a baby, although it was hard!
Of course we had to get a picture of Eli with the Gecko
The next weekend we went to Buckelew Farms to pick pumpkins. Yes, pumpkin picking in the desert is quite different from pumpkin picking in Virgina. It was hot and very dusty, and of course we forgot to bring a hat for Eli so he had to borrow daddy's.
The pumpkin farm had a 4-H petting zoo. Momma was excited to introduce Eli to livestock, but Eli was not impressed.
Daddy and Eli at lunch at Hooters.
Yes I am holding Eli up while I stick my head through also -- how long are my arms?!?!
Daddy and Eli at lunch at Hooters.
Testing out the new high chair. I got this at a base yard sale for $10, it was hardly used and retails for about $80 new!
He fell asleep with his toy in his mouth.
He fell asleep with his toy in his mouth.
We have had some cold mornings here in the desert this winter!
Jeff and I won tickets to go to a masquerade ball on Halloween night! Our friends Lindsey and Joe watched him for us and they took this picture. The party didn't turn out to be much fun, but it was fun getting dressed up.
I thought it would be amusing to try to put Eli in the outfit he wore coming home from the hospital when he was 3 days old. Then it was huge on him, now it hardly snaps! What a chunk monkey.
We have started trying to eat solid foods. He doesn't care much for rice cereal by itself, plus we are worried about wheat-related allergies, so we are pretty much starting him on fruits and veggies. Our first try was with sweet potatoes, which I hear most babies love, but Eli wasn't too sure about it.
He can't pull himself up yet, but if I stand him up by the edge of his crib, he will stand there for a while and look around.
The couple who lives across the street had a Christmas party for the neighborhood and another couple who lives a few houses down came dressed as Santa and Mrs. Clause. They actually do this as a job, the beard is real! Eli did really well with Santa.
The mesh bag he is chewing on has a piece of avocado in it, he seemed to like it!
This baby is getting enormous! He is almost too big for his bouncy chair! I can't wait to see how much he weighs and how long he is when we go for his 6 month appointment, but I'm guessing he has to be at least 16 pounds by now and I think he has grown several inches just since his 4 month appointment.
I thought it would be amusing to try to put Eli in the outfit he wore coming home from the hospital when he was 3 days old. Then it was huge on him, now it hardly snaps! What a chunk monkey.
We have started trying to eat solid foods. He doesn't care much for rice cereal by itself, plus we are worried about wheat-related allergies, so we are pretty much starting him on fruits and veggies. Our first try was with sweet potatoes, which I hear most babies love, but Eli wasn't too sure about it.
He can't pull himself up yet, but if I stand him up by the edge of his crib, he will stand there for a while and look around.
The couple who lives across the street had a Christmas party for the neighborhood and another couple who lives a few houses down came dressed as Santa and Mrs. Clause. They actually do this as a job, the beard is real! Eli did really well with Santa.
The mesh bag he is chewing on has a piece of avocado in it, he seemed to like it!
This baby is getting enormous! He is almost too big for his bouncy chair! I can't wait to see how much he weighs and how long he is when we go for his 6 month appointment, but I'm guessing he has to be at least 16 pounds by now and I think he has grown several inches just since his 4 month appointment.
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