4-month checkup

Eli had his 4-month checkup today. We are extremely grateful to be able to say that he is perfectly healthy. He is still above average for his height and weight and there was not one concern from the doctor. Mostly, I begged for tricks to get him to sleep through the night and the doctor said to tell him if I came up with anything. Not that Eli's bad--he always goes right back to sleep after eating--but he does wake up at least once or twice a night. I know parents who have a much harder time getting their babies to sleep. He's doing much better with the cereal now, too. Seeing him smile is saving my sanity right now, during this stressful time.

A First Attempt at Solid Food

So it was decided that, since Eli was almost four months, we try out solid food, which was really cereal. And here is the glorious first attempt at it:

Ahoy! Halloween off the Starboard bow!

And this be Elliot's first Halloween! Out of the roots and grass a pod snaked up and grabbed him!

Thus, Eli's costume came to be:



It will be years later that he will look back on this and thank us for the fun trick-or-treating. In the meantime:

Back to Work, part 2

I'm writing this just because I hate going for too long without updating this blog, but unfortunately do not have much to report. I have been back at work for 2 weeks now. I think I'm over the hardest part, but you never know when the regret and doubts are going to creep back. I like being back at work. I love my job. I just wish I could take Eli with me. Or be in two places at once. But we have a great nanny who comes to our house and brings her son who is 6 weeks older than Eli. She is wonderful about entertaining and challenging him while keeping him happy.

I've had to change my breastfeeding schedule, as I now pump during the day at work and breastfeed at night. I think he's still a little confused, but he's getting used to it, as am I. Fortunately there is a lock on my office door so I can have lots of privacy!

I'm back to playing volleyball one night a week. It's frustrating to not be able to make my legs move as quickly as they used to--my head is there, but not my body. But if my teammates pass the ball right to me I can usually do something decent with it, and we've gotten off to a 5-1 start so I guess I'm not too much of a drain on the team. The hardest part is when we have late games (half the time) I get home around 11 PM and then have to shower, pump, etc. and it makes for a long Tuesday at work. This past Monday was the first time I had been awake past 10:30 since the week Eli was born!

Right now, I'm looking forward to a 3-day weekend next weekend, including dressing Eli up for Halloween and getting a visit from my parents! Can't wait! Enough rambling for now. That's what I'm up to. Maybe I can get Chris to post a poem or two.

Back to Work

Enjoy this video that was taken on Eli's two-month birthday. He was just becoming aware of his hands and his ability to use them. We think it's pretty cute, but then we think everything he does is cute.

Tomorrow I go back to work. I am working half days Thursday and Friday, and start back full time on Monday. How do I feel about it? I'm devastated. It's purely selfish, as I know that Eli will be fine without me. I just hate to miss all the little moments that happen during the day. I also hate to give up the good sleep I usually get in the morning, as Chris usually lets me sleep in a bit. No longer.

Well, I've been lucky to have 12 weeks at home. I'll miss the freedom, but all good things must come to an end.

Are you ready for some football?

We took this and other adorable photos of Eli in his Bengals jersey (given to us by our friends Becky and Tim Horejs) yesterday. Those and a few photos from the wedding yesterday can be seen at our photo site here.

Eli's namesake, Eli Manning, is actually playing against the Bengals today, so I guess it's an appropriate time to tell the story of the name, for those who haven't heard it. It's not that we love the Giants or the Mannings, but more that we hated the Patriots and Tom Brady last season. Before we knew the sex of the baby, we were discussing names and I said "What about Peyton for a girl?" Chris didn't want to name the baby after Peyton Manning, but said "How about Eli?" This was the day before the Superbowl. I said that if the Giants won the Superbowl, we would name the baby Eli. The Giants were about 20 to 1 underdogs for the Superbowl, since the Patriots were undefeated. Also, Eli was always the underachieving goofy younger brother. So the whole thing was really a joke.

But as we rejoiced as the clocked ticked the final seconds, I remembered our joke and I said, "I guess we have to name our child Eli". Still joking. But the more I told the story and the more we said the name Eli to each other, the more we liked it. We didn't want to use Elijah, so we decided Eli could be short for Elliot, which we also liked. And the rest is history.

Last night, Rae and Jeremy had a beautiful wedding on a pier on the Cape Fear River. We were very happy for them and enjoyed our first night out, hanging out with all of our volleyball friends.

First Shots

Eli had his 2-month check up at the doctor today. He was weighed and measured; He weighs 12 pounds, 10 ounces and is 23.75 inches long. He's in the 75th percentile for weight and height, but in the 50th percentile for head circumference. His head doesn't look small for his body...we just hope this doesn't mean he's a pea-brain! But they said he's perfectly normal.

I think the shots were harder on Chris than Eli. I hope Chris doesn't transfer his fear of needles to our son. Don't get me wrong, he did cry and was very taken by surprise by the first shot, but the crying only lasted a minute. You can see from the picture, he got three shots in all. He's been doing a lot of eating and sleeping since, and he's been just a little crabby when awake.

Tomorrow night Grandma and Grandpa Talley will be babysitting while we are at a wedding. It will be our first night out without him. I'm anxious but excited.