A Visit from Family

This last week we had a visit from my sister-in-law Emily and her almost 2-yr-old daughter Adele, who is one of Eli's 14 cousins. They flew in from California and stayed in our small place... it was interesting having Emily, Adele, and Eli all sleeping in the same room! Adele cried every night for about an hour before falling asleep, and then any time Eli made a noise in the night Emily would grab him and bring him in to me or I would run in there and pick him up before he woke up Adele. We made it work, but I look forward to when we have more space someday so our visitors are more comfortable! Adele was a good sport about being quiet while Eli napped, which is impressive for a toddler.

Here is a picture of the fun quilt that Emily made for Eli (with help from our mother-in-law, Cheryl and Ben's sister, Danielle and others) - thank you!:

And here are some pictures from the places we went during the week -

Cozy Noodle, one of my favorite Thai restaurants in Evanston that has a huge collection of Pez dispensers and license plates along the wall:

Lincoln Park Zoo, one of only a few free zoos in the country:

Chicago Children's Museum (we didn't take any pictures there, unfortunately) & afterward we walked around The Magnificent Mile for a while since the kids had fallen asleep in their strollers (we stopped here at the Tribune Tower to see the piece from the Salt Lake Temple that is in the side of the building). The only glitch in our plan was that we were near a hospital, so the occasional (LOUD) ambulance would go down the street...

It was fun for Eli to have a cousin to play with (or just watch while she played):

Eli Tells Us a Story

Eli Tells Us a Story from Sarah on Vimeo.

Here is a video (a little over a minute long) of Eli "talking" to us. We think his sounds are so fun. (And we didn't have the hat on very well at first so I realize it looks a little silly, but later in the video I took the hat off)

He Looks Big, But He's Just Average :)

I took Eli to his 4 month doctor's appointment on Friday, half expecting his pediatrician, Dr. Andy, to make some funny comment on Eli's grand proportions. But Eli is 15 lb. 2 oz. (50%), 25" long (50%), and his head circumference is 16 3/8" (25-50%). So pretty average, just as he's been at one and two months of age. I think I'm going to start a measurement of my own - tracking the circumference of his cute thighs :)

I think it's so funny though how pretty much everywhere I go, people ask how old Eli is. When I say 4 months, and they say, "Wow!" or some other exclamation about his size. I'm curious to see if that continues in the cooler months when he's wearing long-sleeves and pants...

Cubs Win!

In honor of the fantastic Cubs win tonight (against Cincinnati), I'm posting a few pictures that we took at the Cubs game earlier this month - it was Eli's first experience on the el train and at Wrigley Field!

The Joys of Urban Life

I think the typical reason why my child won't nap is because of the many noises around us... we live a block away from a hospital, fire station, and train tracks, and then there is the very noisy, constantly barking, 40-pound dog that lives above us (I really hate this dog) who chases its toys from room to room in a very loud manner, and today, it was the man using the leaf blower in our courtyard that woke my poor Eli up.

I love Evanston and our location; it's great to be able to walk all over, take the train into the city, and have lots of friends nearby. But what do you do when you have a light sleeper for a baby and the sound machine isn't loud enough to tune all of the noises out??

Eli at 4 Months

Eli isn't quite 4 months (he will be on the 20th) but he's almost there, so here are some pictures of him from this weekend... I swear he is chubbier every time I look at him! He loves to squeal and lately has really started talking and making different sounds, which we think is so fun. Eli is a very animated little guy.

I put this vest on him but it's still a little big... he just wanted to chew on the part that came close to his mouth!

Here is Eli without the vest, looking like a little man with his polo shirt, jeans, and shoes :)

Here he is in his outfit for church, in the beautiful green sweater and hat knit by my mom. I think it is super cute!

Picky to a Fault

I have postponed starting this blog for many reasons. First, I signed up for this blog address at least a year ago, but at the time I wasn't sure what to write about, since most people with blogs wrote about their kids. Then after Eli came along, I would open up our blog, start to customize it, and then get frustrated because I never had time to make it look the way I wanted it to. Eli tends to sleep in 45 min. increments, so I am realizing that there isn't always time for perfection - I just need to get things done when I can and be happy with the result!

This blog will mostly revolve around our sweet Eli, whom my friend Rebekeh calls "Eli Love" after some soap opera character (?). And we'll of course intermingle my craziness (along with Ben's) in the posts, because life is never dull around here!