5 Months - Happy Thanksgiving!

~Happy Thanksgiving~

Age: 5 Months

Weight: 15lbs

Height: 26in

Size Clothes: 6-9 months

New Trick: Sucking on his toes

Hours Sleeping at Night: 10-12

Look who is 5 months old!! My baby boy is getting so big, so fast! Time really does fly with these little guys! I know I just added some Q&A's about Elijah to my blog, but I wanted to keep track of a few things so I will actually go back and add those questions into my old posts so I don't forget!

So many things have happened this month! With the Holidays fast approaching we have been getting family pictures done and spending plenty of time with grandmas and grandpas! Elijah has started sucking on his toes all of the time (which is actually incredibly impressive...I wish I was that flexible!). He gets mad when I take them out of his mouth to change his clothes or his diaper!

Getting mad when we take stuff away from him is also a new thing. Before, he was pretty content no matter what but now he's getting a little temper (it came from his father, of course lol). He is also trying to hold his own bottle! He can definitely hold onto the bottle, and sometimes he can even maneuver it into his mouth (albeit, it may not be the right end), but he just doesn't know how to keep it there! He just pushes it away every time, so mommy has been letting him practice with empty bottles so he doesn't make a mess. :-) 

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and thankfulness, I would just love to say how thankful I am for my baby's sleeping habits! For any new parents who are struggling with getting their babies to sleep through the night, I will suggest reading the book  "On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Child the Gift of Nightime Sleep". Right now Eli is sleeping anywhere from 10-12 hours at night consistently, but he has been sleeping at least 8 hours at night since he was a little less than 3 months old! Mommy and Daddy have definitely been thankful for this. Granted, we haven't followed the book verbatim, but by following sort of an "ish" version of the schedule lined out in the book, we have been extremely successful! I would definitely recommend it to any mother who is freaking out because their baby only sleeps 2 hours at a time!

 

 

 

 

He is such a little stinker!

This Thanksgiving we also got to spend time with lots of family and Eli was able to meet many of them for the very first time!

 

Aunt Tina

 

Cousin Erington

4 Months - Happy Halloween!

 

Age: 4 Months

Weight: 14lbs

Height: 25in

Size Clothes: 3-6 months

New Trick:Grabbing and reaching

Hours Sleeping at Night:8-10

Elijah is now 4 months old! He has started "talking" all of the time and he can almost sit up on his own! He giggles when Mommy blows on his tummy and he loves watching football with Daddy. :-) His little grins and giggles are absolutely precious and they make each new day an adventure. He has started reaching for his toys and trying to get them into his mouth...anything that gets in his hands goes immediately to his mouth and he will drool ALL OVER it. His hands are, by far, his favorite thing to chew on right now. He is still teething but none have actually cut through yet. He is dealing with those awful fevers though. 

His preference for Mommy and Daddy is becoming more and more apparent, which we would rather get away from. This little guy isn't going to be allowed to freak out when he stays with other people. He is just going to have to be a people-person. haha!

I love watching his little mind work.  You can just see the wheels turning as he picks up something new and tries to figure out how in the world he is going to maneuver this thing into his mouth, or the frustration and yelling that happens when he can't figure out how to get it there! He's a silly little boy and I have no idea how I lived before we had him!

 

 

 

Examples of how everything ends up in his mouth...

 

3 Months

Age: 3 Months

Weight: 13lbs

Height: 24in

Size Clothes: 3-6 months

New Trick: Giggling, sucking on everything, "talking"

Hours Sleeping at Night:5-8

 And finally, we are UP-TO-DATE!!! Elijah is currently 3 months old and he is the sweetest little boy on earth (yes, I am bias)! He smiles and coos and I swear he'll be talking by the time he's 7 months old! He even laughs now! It's kind of an explosive, so excited he squeals laugh, but it's super-cute! He weighs 15lbs, the little chunk, and loves to "talk" to himself and his little light-up seahorse.

He is FINALLY getting over the colic, which Mommy and Daddy are so incredibly happy about. He is so sweet and happy most of the time...unless he's hot or tired...he hates being hot or tired.  He can completely hold his head up on his own now and will even stand on his own while he holds onto our fingers! He is teething now and loves to chew on his hands. He has complete control over them too and no longer just flails his arms around aimlessly...they have a purpose to their movement now and it's generally headed in the direction of his mouth.

He absolutely loves the dogs. He will be crying and catch sight of them and just start "talking" and cooing at them. He will even laugh at them while they play!

Of course, he's daddy's little man.

He is so un-impressed with my selfies.

He loves his Deedee!

Like father, like son. This kid loves him some football!

2 Months

 

Age: 2 Months

Weight: 12lbs

Height: 23in

Size Clothes: 0-3 months

New Trick: Smiling!

Hours Sleeping at Night:4-5

Around this time is when things with Eli really started to get fun! He started smiling all of the time and his colic was gradually getting better! He was almost completely out of him 0-3 month clothes at 2 months! Such a big boy! At his check-up they told us he was in the 90th percentile for weight and off the charts for height!  He was definitely focusing in on things and he LOVES the dogs! They are his favorite things to look at (besides Mommy and Daddy of course)!

His head control had gotten a million times better! The kid just amazed me with how well he was able to hold himself up! His eyes started getting lighter too, which was crazy to see! They're still darker blue, but not nearly as dark as they were when he was born. 

This is Eli in his Bumbo seat at 2 months. He definitely struggled to steady himself, but he did a pretty good job keeping himself up!

This picture is one of my favorites! He's so sweet!

And Elijah is definitely bound to have a sense of humor. Between his silly parents, grandparents, and uncles, he doesn't stand a chance.
 

Uncle Cody, making lasting impressions on his nephew

This is what we in the biz (parental biz, that is) refer to as the "Whattchu talkin' bout Willis" face.

1 Month

Age: 1 Month

Weight:10 lbs

Height:22in

Size Clothes: 0-3 months

New Trick: Following things with his eyes

Hours Sleeping at Night: 10-12

It's amazing how much our little guy grew in just a month! Since I'm writing this post so late, I am just going to transcribe what I had written in my journal about Eli when he was a little over a month old:

"It's crazy to think [how] much time has passed since his birth, yet it's crazy to think there was ever a time when he was not in our lives. He is the most beautiful little boy - with his dark blue eyes and light brown hair. He looks just like his daddy, I think, but a lot of people say he reminds them of my brother, Cody.

It is amazing how much he changes every day. He has started noticing new things and studying them. He stares at us while we feed him and talk to him. He also likes to stare at lights... It is really fun to watch his face when he sees Fender and Lakota. He just stares them down with a puzzled look on his face."

At that point he was almost completely holding his neck up on his own and he was pushing himself up on his little legs. That little boy is strong!! Unfortunately, his colic just got progressively worse. Our pediatrician put him on a new formula called Nutramigen and that did wonders for his little tummy, but he still cried all of the time.

He started smiling at us (not just in his sleep) around this time. The first intentional smile I can  remember was when his Papaw Joe was whistling the Andy Griffith theme song to him! lol It's funny because I watched that show all of the time while I was pregnant with him! He slept anywhere from 3-6 hours at a time at this point which was pretty good for a one month old!

Nanna and baby Eli

Elijah with his Great-Grandpa

Great-Grandma Rachel

Daddy's little man

Momma's little boy

Mommy and Daddy got to go on their first babyless date around this time! Joshua surprised me by taking me to Bernheim Forest to spend the afternoon outdoors. I had been stuck inside for the entire month of July because it was so hot and Eli couldn't stay out for very long. I absolutely love the summer, and hiking, and every outdoor activity imaginable, so I was pining for some fresh air. It was amazing and I love him so much! He knows me so well!

1 Week

Age: 1 Week

Weight:8lbs

Height: 20in

Size Clothes: Newborn

New Trick:Standing on his legs while Mommy and Daddy hold him.

Hours Sleeping at Night:2-3

Yes, I am about 3 months late with my blog-updateage, but this has been one heck of a first three months. Our little guy has changed so much so fast! It will be fun for me to reminisce about how teeny he was at just one week old!

The first week for Eli was pretty brutal. He was a little jaundiced at the hospital and had to sleep on a bili-lite for a night. We had him to the doctor every other day after he was born because he wasn't gaining weight. He dropped down to 8lbs and stayed there for the first 2 weeks. Finally, after we started supplementing with formula, he started gaining weight.

He was the most alert newborn I have ever seen! After we started him on formula, he had colic and cried constantly. We always had to be holding, bouncing, rocking, or walking around with him to keep him even remotely calm. It's a good thing he was cute ;-) But, we learned to deal and got used to the idea that we would never...ever sleep again (oh well).

We had plenty of visitors in the first few weeks. Elijah even got to meet his uncle and aunt Barry and Mary from Florida! We were so appreciative of everyone's help and support! We are all so blessed to have such a wonderful, caring family!

Great-Uncle Barry

Aunt Janna and Elijah

39 Weeks - Elijah is here!

Elijah is here!!!

Elijah Case Ater

Born June 27, 2013 at 8:58 PM

Weighed 8lbs 8oz

20 inches long

 

We are so thankful to have such a healthy boy on our hands! Everything from start to finish went along perfectly and I feel like I could not have been luckier!

The Waiting Game...

As you guys know, I was dilated 4 cm for basically forever and my doctors kept saying, "Oh, you can go anytime!" Granted, to most people this would seem like good news, and it was, but the suspense was ridiculous. Then, my doctor told me they could go ahead and induce me at 39 weeks because I was already so far along. This is unusual because they normally don't induce until after the due date unless there are complications. I guess I was just lucky! 

I was supposed to go in on June 26th to be induced, which was the date I had been saying for months that I had a strange feeling about. They told me to start calling for a bed around 10PM so I'm pretty sure I called at like, 9:50 because I was so anxious and excited, only to be told there were no beds available and to call back in 3 hours. This went on all night. I would call every 3 hours and then be told to call back in 3 hours. In the midst of all this, I started having contractions and thought I was going to have to go to the hospital anyway. They lasted for a few hours, but eventually went away.

The next morning my mom, my sister-in-law and me decided to go to Cracker Barrel to get breakfast while Josh, my dad and my brothers slept. As we were getting ready to leave at 11 AM, I received a phone call that said they were ready for me and to be there at noon! So we rushed back to the house, got ready and headed to the hospital.

In the elevator on my way to the labor and delivery floor!

Let's get it started...
When we arrived they put us in a room, checked us in, and then the nurses came in to check me. Because of my contractions the night before I was already at 5cm. They started me on Pitocin to induce my labor, and so the process began...

My contractions weren't bad at first. For the most part, I couldn't even tell when I was having them. Then Dr. Wilson came in to break my water. From that point I went from barely being able to tell when I was having a contraction to being in excruciating pain. Dr. Wilson told me I could go ahead and get my epidural but I told her I wanted to wait until I was farther along. Not even 10 minutes later I wanted the epidural. lol They checked me again before they gave me the medicine and I was already 8cm dilated. The nurse and anesthesiologist tried to convince me to go natural because they said I was one of the few people they thought could do it, but I calmly said, "No thank you," as another contraction would hit me and I could no longer talk, breathe, nor think.

 

After the epidural, I was on cloud 9. I was so happy to be free of pain that I was almost giggly.  Josh was incredibly nervous and pacing around. I kept telling him to go get food because he hadn't eaten in hours but he said he couldn't because it would make him sick. 

They've got our back...

We have an awesome support system in our friends and families so the waiting room was full of people! My two best friends, Janna and Ashley, along with my mom and Josh were the ones in the room with me when I delivered. Janna manned the camera and saw to it that we got some awesome, heart-wrenching photos and videos of the whole process. I don't know what I would have done without the four of them and Josh and I are so thankful to be blessed with families that will be there to love and support us.

One entire waiting room filled with our family

Janna told Dad to give her his best scared face. lol

Ashley and Jann waiting not-so-patiently for Eli's arrival!

Mom and Ashley both thought it was cold in the delivery room. I was burning up the entire time...from nerves I guess.

Ashley talking to Eli before he made his debut

My hero...
Joshua was absolutely amazing through the whole process. He was a coach, a comfort, and a rock I could lean on. I have never met someone so perfect for me and I don't know what I would ever do without him. He loves me and is there to help me and protect me through whatever circumstance may come our way. I love him with all of my heart and I am so glad to be making this journey with him.

It's go time!
The nurse came in to check me again and told me I was at the point where I could start pushing, but unfortunately my doctor was in an emergency C-section and so we had to wait on her. About an hour went by and I was feeling the urge to push. We called the nurse in and she said Dr. Wilson was done with surgery and she should be back in a few minutes. She decided to do some "practice pushes" with me and said sometimes I could be pushing for hours before the baby is actually born. During the first practice push Eli crowned and the nurse calmly called in the delivery team. In 6 pushes Elijah was born and the first thing I thought when I saw him was how he looked exactly like Joshua...only slightly purpleish. He was the most beautiful, precious, amazing thing I had ever seen and his sweet cries brought a whole new meaning to my life.With the exception of the nurses, everyone in the room was crying.

This new young life suddenly became the reason for mine. It's true what they say: You never know true love until you have a child.