Life at Home With Our Children :-) Eli at one moth old

We have been home now from the hospital for one month since our precious Eli was born.  My recovery has been very smooth, which makes it easy for me to be a mommy to two children because I don't really need that much rest.

Abigail has also helped me tremendously with her brother.  She is always quick to help with diaper changes and getting his outfits ready.  I am nursing Eli; therefore, she has not really had the chance to give him a bottle yet.  When I go back to work in about a month I plan on pumping which will then give her the opportunity to give him a bottle.  She is never jealous or upset when I have to give all my attention to Eli, which is most of the time.  She completely understands everything and has adjusted so well.  Every night and at every meal, Abigail prays for God to keep Eli safe and to help him grow.  She thanks God for bringing her baby brother to us...always brings a tear to my eye and joy to my heart hearing our daughter talk to God.

I forgot to mention that upon the first meeting at the hospital, Eli gave his big sister a pretty great "Big Sister gift".  He gave her two American girl dolls---a brother and a sister set.  She immediately named the boy Eli and the girl Abigail and she has been attached to these dolls since.  She is amazed that her little brother would think of her when he was born.  She often asks me, "How did he get me these dolls when he couldn't go shopping while in your tummy?"  She is a thinker so we always have to think of a good answer without lying to our child.  These dolls are precious and will be something she can keep through the years.

Eli weighed 9 lbs, 12 ounces at birth and then dropped to 9 lbs, 4 ounces when we were discharged from the hospital.  We took him to the pediatrician when he was about 5 days old and we weighed 9 lbs, 10 ounces.  At his 2 week check up he was already 10 lbs, 15 ounces and 21.75 inches long!!!  99 percentile in weight and something like 91 percentile in height.  Now that he is one month old I am curious to see how much he weighs. 

Eli only wore the newborn diapers for the first day of life and then the nurses had to switch him to a size one diaper.  In the hospital when a new nurse would come in for a shift change she would say something like, "Is this our big 9 pound baby?"  I think he was a hit with the nurses from the start. ;)  He is a cutie potootie afterall.  :-) 

He NEVER fit into newborn clothing and is recently growing out of his 3 month clothing.  He seems to fit comfortably in 6 month outfits where he can stretch and wiggle his toes.  He eats every 2 hours and has been sleeping pretty well at night.  He eats at around 10:30pm, sleeps until 2:00am..wakes up to eat..then mommy changes his diaper, falls back to sleep around 2:45am and then wakes up to do the whole thing again at around 6:00am.  He is able to soothe himself back to sleep most of the time; however, occasionally he needs mommy to sing to him to fall back to sleep.  I have caught him a few times slightly opening his eyes to see if mommy is there, smile because he sees me and then falls back to sleep.  He is such a sweet little guy.  He is usually always happy, unless he is hungry or needs a diaper change.  His favorite thing to do is to stare at mommy, daddy, and Abigail's faces.  It is as if you can tell he is learning new things all the time. He loves to take a bath and seems to never want to get out. 

It just feels as though this precious little boy has always been a part of our family and we all cannot imagine life without little Eli.  He and Abigail are our precious gifts from God and we are incredible thankful for our blessings.