Eli’s first smile

For the past few weeks, Eli has been smiling here and there at random, but not when we’ve tried to make him smile.  As usual, he was wide awake at 5 o’clock this morning.  I had to go to the bathroom so I laid Eli in bed beside Seth.  Seth turned towards Eli and started talking to him: “what’s Daddy’s little boy doing up so early?”  Eli lit up!  We kept talking to him and he just kept grinning!  He’s been doing it more this morning too!

No smiling pictures yet.  I’ve been too busy admiring him to go for the camera.  Here are some others!

A second-hand store find

The shirt says it all!

Relaxing in the sun, dude

4-month shots

That’s right, Eli turned 4 months on Saturday!

He had 3 immunizations–2 sticks and 1 oral vaccine–on Friday. He cried quite hard, and so did I. As soon as he calmed down a little, I nursed him until he went to sleep and he pretty much slept until the next morning. His temperature went up to 102.3 even though I’d been giving him Tylenol every 4-6 hours since his appointment. I almost took him to the ER, but it started to go down and once it reached 99, it hung out there until the next day, which is considered normal after shots. He didn’t eat much at all, but he’s been making up for it the rest of the weekend!  He goes for his monthly RSV vaccination this week.

We went to a few consignment shops for kids’ clothes on Saturday and Grandma Jody bought Eli over $300 worth of clothes for $75. He got some really nice things including a corduroy Gap coat for $6, a Nike onesie for $0.75, an Ohio State windbreaker outfit for $4, and Old Navy Jeans for $2. I highly recommend these shops, and if anyone would like to know where they are, just leave a comment!

Here’s a recent picture of the little chunka chocolate (10 lb 2 oz) at his doctor’s appointment.

More pics without oxygen!

Too cute, huh?!  Eli with my good friend Brooke’s son, Josiah. He’s one month younger than Eli, but had Eli been born full-term, he’d have been about a month and half older.

I love that expression

Cute new coat

My bast friend holding my little man   Beautiful!

Ta-Dah!!

Last picture ever taken with the oxygen!

On the way home!

We tricked you, Daddy!

He can’t quite sit up in it yet!

One proud Grandpa…

…and another!

No strings attached!

I am incredibly pleased to announce that Eli is no longer on oxygen! He had an appointment at the BPD Clinic yesterday, and it was one of the best days of my life. Here’s the run down.

-Eli’s Grandma Jody rode up with us, and we arrived in Columbus an hour early because I had the time wrong. We decided to spend that hour at our favorite store–Babies ‘R’ Us! Eli got some very cute new clothes, a Bumbo chair/tray (which he’s not ready for just yet), and new shoes.

-We met up with a lactation consultant at the hospital, because since weaning him off the nipple shield, Eli’s been improperly latching on and making me very sore. I was given some great tips and things have been going well ever since. The LC was proud that Eli was exclusively breastfeeding with no supplements! What can I say? We’re awesome

-Once we arrived at the clinic, his nurse removed his nasal cannula and attached a saturation probe to his foot. His sats stayed in the high 90’s for a few minutes, and she then unplugged him from the monitor while I stripped him down to be weighed. Eli is up to an amazing weight of 9lb 14 1/2 oz! That is almost 4 1/2 pounds since he’s come home! No change in length since his pediatrician appointment last week, so still 20 inches.

-The dietitian met up with us after plotting his growth. He is in the 50th percentile for weight and head circumference, and the 10th percentile for height. So he’s short and fat, basically! His Daddy was just like that when he was a baby. At birth, he was an inch shorter and a pound heavier than Eli is now! Eli has gained an average of approximately 1.5 ounces a day. She strongly advised that he still receive his daily bottle spiked with a vitamin, however, we no longer need to fortify it with Neosure formula. The vitamin is important for him because breast milk isn’t naturally high in vitamin D. Other sources for it are sunlight and baby fat developed in the womb. Because of limited exposure to the sun and being born with very little fat, Eli needs his vitamin!

-When Dr. Gest (who looks just like Dr. Kelso from “Scrubs”) came in, he plugged Eli back in to the monitor, and his sats were still in the high 90’s. He asked me if I was ready to get rid of the oxygen, and I said that if Eli was ready that I was more than ready for it to be gone! And that was that– no more cannuka and no more apnea monitor! Dr. Gest was overall very pleased. We got a referral to see urology about possible hypospadias (abnormally placed opening of the penis) and circumcision. Neither Eli’s regular pediatrician or Dr. Gest could confirm or rule out hypospadias, but if Eli has it, there is corrective surgery which would probably be done sometime around Eli’s first birthday.

-After the appointment, we had a nice dinner with Eli’s Great Aunt Darla and Uncle Gene and stopped at Babies ‘R’ Us one more time. We decided to play a trick on Daddy and Pappy by calling and telling them that Eli wasn’t taken off oxygen. When we pulled up to the house, we put Eli back on his travel tank and we got Pappy good! Seth was still at work, so before he came home, I turned on the oxygen concentrator and ran the cord into the computer room and shut the door. When he came in, I was holding Eli–with no strings attached and sporting a onesie that said “SURPRISE!”

-I took several pictures, but they are on Jody’s camera which she brought to a wedding tonight, so no pictures until (hopefully) tomorrow. Sorry!  I can assure you though, it’s wonderful to see him without that tubing!  It’s also great to be able to take him places without lugging around that travel tank and even to take him around the house without having to worry about the cord snagging on something.  It was actually a bit strange at first but we happily adjusted, and quickly!

Just one of those tiny miracles

My Grandpa, who lives 700miles from us, has very poor hearing. It is difficult to have a conversation with him in person and nearly impossible to talk to him on the phone.  I called him the other night while Eli was being rather vocal, and not only could he hear most of what I was saying, he had his first “conversation” with his great-grandson!  That’s pretty special!

Happy Baby

Eli with Pappy (Seth’s Dad).  This is where Eli got his chin.

Pediatrician appointment

Now 15 weeks (corrected 4 weeks), Eli is 8 1/2 pounds! He has gained 1 1/4 pounds since his last appointment about 3 weeks ago. Everyone gave a prediction before he went to the doctor’s and his Pappy was spot-on (again)! Daddy thought he was going to be 9 lbs; not yet, but it won’t be long! He also grew a half inch, so he’s up to 20.”

I am also pleased to report that Eli and I have now successfully made it over 24 hours of nursing without the nipple shield! You have no idea how much of a relief this is for me. I also believe it is much easier for Eli to get milk now–he is not nursing as long. I actually read in a book on preemies that a nipple shield should never be used on preemies because it makes it more difficult to eat, wearing them out quicker! I wish I would have known this several weeks ago! His latch is not perfect yet, so I’m a little sore, but not any more sore than the shield was making me!

I think Eli will be starting to smile at us very soon! When Seth came home from work this morning, he got Eli to give him several very happy smiles! But of course, he wouldn’t do it any more as soon as I got the camera, and he hasn’t done it since.

Auntie Mic couldn’t believe how big Eli had gotten in just a week!

Chunky Monkey

Grammy and Pappy could stare at him for hours!

Who do you think will blink first?

Please Leave a Comment :-)

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1) Your name
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As a reward, here are some new pics!

And here is a video from today:

Home for 1 month!

The 19th marked one month at home for Eli. We celebrated by spending time together and by stamping Eli’s footprints. He never had it done at the hospital and I’ve been wanting to do it before he gets any bigger! I made several copies, and if the Grandparents are good, they might just get something made for Christmas. Eli was pretty good throughout the whole ordeal. He tolerated the foot stamping pretty well, but when I tried a hand, he wanted no part of it! I just wish I would have taken pictures during the process, but I was too occupied, I guess.

I can’t wait until Eli’s next appointment on the 26th so I can see how much he weighs. He’s outgrown Newborn-size diapers, but is fitting comfortably in Newborn clothes. He’s doing really well with keeping hie head up, and in a few weeks I might try sitting him in a Bumbo Baby Sitter! If you don’t know, a Bumbo chair is a seat that is designed to support a sitting baby who can’t sit on his own yet. The child must be able to hold up his head, though. He really enjoys sitting up; it’s getting difficult to cradle hold him when he’s awake because he’s learning that his surroundings are more interesting than Mommy. It’s exciting that he’s growing, but so sad that he’s getting big!

Speaking of big, check out these two pictures. The first one is Mommy with Eli at 3 weeks old. The second is Eli and Mommy today. See how my hand used to cup around his back? I can’t believe how much he has changed!

From our stamping project

Eli holding up his head!

This is his “I just got out of the tub and I’m ready for a nap” look

Fluffy hat hair (he always wears a hat after tubby time)

Eli down by the river with Daddy (OSU lost that day, darn it!)

Eli and Mommy, crashing on the floor in the den

Another outing to Nana’s

These last two were done during our other home photo shoot. They were taken by Ross, a friend our family.

Eli is 3 months old!

As of the 11th, Eli’s real age is 3 months. It’s really hard to believe! His corrected age is 2 weeks.  He’s starting to coo, look around more, focus on faces, toy around with head control when upright, and pick up his head during tummy time.  It’s funny; he can lift it completely off Mommy or Daddy’s chest if he’s lying there, but when lying on his tummy during tummy time on the floor, he only gets it maybe an inch off the blanket.  What a goober….

Approx. 4 weeks

Almost 13 weeks