Happy 6 Months Eli!

I can't believe Eli is 6 months old today. It's been a fun day for other reasons too - today was Oprah's Favorite Things show (I totally cried while watching it because I was so happy for these people!), and my Aunt Babz sent me beautiful flowers for my birthday coming up this weekend. These were bonuses to the sweet feeling I had interacting with my now 6-month-old little boy today. Here is how our day went (this is a long post, sorry):

7 a.m. - Eli wakes up (so I did too). I think I heard him fussing a little around 6:15, but he went back to sleep. This RARELY happens! Other days this week, he has woken up between 5:45-6:30 a.m. A little too early for my liking. So I was really happy to get him at 7! Plus I didn't feel well last night (probably b/c our condo was 78 degrees inside, totally out of our control... ugh it made me nauseous), so I went to bed at 10:30 p.m. (I never go to bed this early!)

7 a.m.-8:30 a.m. - I feed Eli, give him a bath, and we play for a while. I take a million pictures of him while he plays. He starts getting fussy and rubbing his eyes, so I put him down for a nap around 8:45.

8:45 a.m.-10 a.m. - Eli naps. Then he wakes up a little grumpy and still tired.

10 a.m.-11 a.m. - I shower (Eli typically plays in his bouncy seat in the doorway of the bathroom while I shower). I also make some more birthday invitations for the family I used to nanny for and put those in the mail (someday I'll put the samples of the invitations on my other blog, but no time now).

11 a.m. - It's time to leave for Eli's 6-month drs appointment. He of course decides to poop before we left, so I hurry and change his diaper, then run down the street, through the drizzling rain, to get to the appointment on time.

11:30 a.m. - Eli is finally seen by the doctor, 15 minutes after his scheduled time (the office was pretty busy). Eli is 50% in everything. Except weight - he was 25-50% in weight, which I attribute to the fact that he had a huge poop right before, and hadn't eaten since before his nap. (If I had fed him right before the appointment, he would have been up a few ounces). No big deal though. Eli gets three shots and an oral vaccine... he's happy until the last shot and then totally bursts into tears. I squeeze my eyes shut through the shots and afterward, Eli gives the nurse very sad looks until she leaves the room.

12:00 p.m. - I'm starving - I just ate a grapefruit for breakfast, but now Eli is fussy from getting shots and there isn't an easy way to make myself lunch without him crying. I grab my favorite granola bar (the totally fattening, but yummy sweet and salty peanut bar by nature valley - yum!) and cuddle with Eli in my arms while we watch Oprah's favorite things on the DVR. I never sit and watch tv with him (unless he's nursing and can't see the tv), but he seemed like he needed to be mellow and to be held. It was funny watching the people in the audience jump and down, scream, cry, etc. and watch Eli taking it all in.

1:30 p.m. - Eli is tired again. I put him down for his nap, spend way too much time reading the news, researching the Beco carrier, responding to emails, thinking about how I'm not working on the article that should have been done last week, and then Eli was up again.

3:00 p.m. - Eli and I play with his toys. I got a few phone calls and wasn't super productive... suddenly it was 4:30 and time was slipping away! I needed to get our place clean because I was hosting a baby shower at 7:30 p.m...

5:00 p.m. - I feed Eli baby oatmeal and prunes for dinner. And since it's his half birthday and a special occasion, I give him peaches for dessert. I talk to Ben - he is working late tonight. Great. Now I have to finish getting the house clean, run to the store to get a few last-minute things for the shower, feed Eli one last time and put him to bed, all before 7:30.

6:00-6:40 p.m. - Go grocery shopping. I have Eli strapped on in the bjorn so I of course get a whole range of looks and comments, from - "he's so cute!" to weird stares, like it's totally unusual to carry a baby in that way. I race home, try to avoid the traffic on my street from Northwestern's basketball game, and haul Eli and the groceries up the two flights of stairs. And this was the first time Eli rode in his new convertible car seat, now that he's too chubby for his infant car seat. I think he liked it!

In the end of my craziness, poor Eli was practically begging me to just feed him and put him to bed. Poor little guy! I finally fed him at 7:15 p.m. and finished nursing him as the first people buzzed to come up. He went right to sleep. The shower was lots of fun and our living room is clean. Eli is 6 months old and I just love him to pieces. I'm excited to see what the next 6 months bring!

Here are a few pictures and a video from today:

Flowers from Aunt Babz - thank you!! They are even more beautiful in person.

Eli stayed somewhat entertained for a few minutes (while I was cleaning/getting ready for the shower) sitting in the booster seat, chewing on its straps and playing with one toy that he eventually threw off of the tray.











And below is a video of Eli pushing up - I love when he smiles with his accomplishment! At the end, you'll see a consequence of working so hard... :)


Eli Doing Push Ups at 6 Months :) from Sarah on Vimeo.