Matching

Last night we put the boys in their matching pjs from Ben's mom - they looked so cute!

Eli had crazy hat hair by the end of the day... he loves wearing his striped beanie around the house.

Today the boys wore their matching t-shirts from the Blums - I was so excited for their first matching outfits! Eli loves the heart on the shirts and he thought it was neat to match his baby brother.

Charlie seems bigger every day. He's busting out of his newborn diapers and some of his 0-3 jammies are getting snug! Crazy. I think it must be because he has a long torso - he still has plenty of room in his 0-3 month pants.

Tonight we played Candyland for the first time with Eli - I don't think he completely understood what was going on, but he liked flipping the cards over and saying the color (he didn't always get the color right, but that's ok - he knows red and blue well, but yellow, green, and orange not so much). Ben had the day off for President's Day, so we had a fun day together as a family.

Valentine's Day

This is for you Danielle... our attempt at a picture of all four of us :)

It wasn't super successful! Eli was squirmy and hyper, Charlie was fussy, and Ben and I were tired. But I'm happy to have a few pictures of all four of us, even if they're just so-so...

My parents and Davey came over this afternoon to watch the kids so Ben and I could go out for an early Valentine's dinner - it was really nice to go out! We also stopped by a furniture store to look at a couch for the living room, but we left feeling unsure... we are pretty indecisive.


Earlier in the day, I tried to get some pictures of Charlie, but he wasn't in the mood for my camera in his face. We seem to be on an every other day good/bad schedule with Charlie - he has a decent night (where he'll fall asleep after eating one of the times in the night), and then the next night he is up almost the entire night. Last night was awful - he was up a ton and really fussy. Ben took over from 4 a.m. on so I could get some rest - I'm so thankful it's the weekend!

On a happier note though, Charlie is such a snuggly baby. He loves curling up in my arms and being cheek to cheek. We love this little guy - but can't wait for the nights to be a little easier (I don't mind waking up to feed him, but I will be so grateful when he consistently goes right back to sleep afterward).
Eli had fun today busy playing with his toy guitar
and stacking blocks
Poor Eli hasn't left the house since Wednesday. But despite the fact that he's been cooped up, he has been so wonderful! He stays busy coloring at his little table, playing with toys, and learning/spotting letters of the alphabet (he likes that the boppy pillow is a "C" shape and finds "O" all over the place) - Eli has an alphabet puzzle and a leapfrog alphabet toy that he really enjoys. It seems like he learns a new letter every day - this is such a fun age!

3 Weeks Old

This picture is from yesterday, but today Charlie is three weeks old! He is still sick and congested, but he's slowly getting better each day.

I will be honest...the first three weeks have not gone by very fast. But last night was the first that Charlie actually went back to sleep after eating (and this just happened once, but that's ok) - I was SO happy!! The night before had been pretty awful - Charlie was up quite a bit and fussy, and I finally had to wake Ben up for help because I couldn't stay awake any longer (I really don't like doing that when he has to work so early the next day, but I felt like I was going to throw up - Ben was happy to help...).

Eli has been in a great mood the last few days, though he was a bit of a stinker and didn't nap yesterday. I left him chattering in his crib anyway and took a nap so I could function the rest of the day :)
Now that Eli is mostly healthy again, I tried getting a picture of the two boys together... but it would have been easier with another adult around to help.
Yesterday was another strangely warm day - 60 degrees isn't very common in February around here! I put Eli in the stroller and strapped Charlie into the Baby Bjorn and off we went on an hour walk through our neighborhood. I decided I was in dire need of my favorite blueberry muffin from a yummy place not too far from here, so that was a good destination (though I was pretty exhausted by the end). It was a fun first walk with the boys!
Here is a quick video of Eli playing with Charlie - I thought it was very sweet. He is genuinely interested in him and loves waving at Charlie. I think they'll be good friends in no time :)

I Heart the Weekend (and Warmer Weather)

It was another long night, but it was so nice to have Ben helping too.

Charlie was making some cute faces this morning:

And now he's snoozing on the couch...
Eli was a little grouchy at breakfast (he woke up a little early because he heard Charlie crying), but was happy once his stomach was full.

My parents came over this morning and watched the boys so Ben and I could run some errands and get out of the house. Eli was in a great mood when we got back. And another reason to be happy - it's 58 degrees!!! The snow is melting, as demonstrated in our alley. We can see GRASS!! It's a wet, slushy, muddy mess, but it feels so good outside.

Day 1 on My Own

These pictures sum up the day pretty well
(Eli started the day off with lots of yelling and tears...)

Last night Charlie was up from 1-2 a.m., then 4-5:30 a.m., and then Eli woke up at 6:45 a.m., screaming and crying for "DA DAAAAAAAAAA!" Too bad Ben left for work at 6 a.m. and I was alone, exhausted, and not looking forward to cheering up my very cranky toddler. He and Ben have yucky colds, and Eli was coughing pretty much the entire night. The good thing was that Charlie didn't wake up until 8, so I had time to feed Eli breakfast AND get shower/dry my hair right before he was up. Hooray for the shower!

Charlie was a little fussy today. I don't know if it's something I ate that was bothering him, or if his stuffy nose was making it hard to be happy? Who knows. It was a day when he was not content to be anywhere for very long - whether it was the swing, bouncy seat, on a blanket on the floor, in my arms...

Thankfully, there were at least some happy moments in the day when Eli wasn't throwing fits or crying. I think Mondays are just hard. He was entertained by Ben all weekend long, only to find today that it was just his tired mom and baby brother around to play with, poor guy. I kept wishing we could go out for a walk, but it's just too cold. Tomorrow we're supposed to get MORE snow, so help me!

That's the hard thing about having a baby in the winter - you can't get much fresh air when it's freezing cold like this. The upside is you can be a bum at home all day and not feel too bad about it... here's to another exciting day at home tomorrow :)

Dr. Eli

Eli was being really sweet this morning, happily playing with toys around the house. He loves this wooden sandwich making kit that Caroline gave him (it also has pieces for a hamburger, and it's hilarious hearing Eli try to say the word hamburger...)

And here's Dr. Eli, giving the Rody donkey a checkup -

checking his ears...
We gave Eli the doctor kit when Charlie was born, and it's really fun watching him use it on various toys/stuffed animals.

I'll Change the Blog Name Soon...

I'm having a hard time changing the top of my blog, but it's time... it's no longer just Eli Love (I am way too sentimental about the picture though)! But in honor of the blog's first star, here are some fun things about Eli this week.

First - his crib is exploding with stuffed animals. The child has WAY too many favorites - a few frogs, a few dogs, Elmo ("Ha Ha"), a manatee, an elephant, a bunny, a kitty, a bear, a dolphin...

These stuffed animals make Eli so happy.

But sometimes he's a little bossy, even from the boundaries of the crib:

This week he started counting to 10 - we discovered this when we were reading one of his favorite books, 10 Little Ladybugs (he first loved this book when we were visiting Amber in Atlanta). At the end of the story, we always count the 10 ladybugs on the last page, and last night he did it all on his own!

He has also had a funny sense of humor lately - he picks up on when we're being silly and calls us on it - "Silly Daddy!" or "Silly (fill in the blank)" with whatever we're playing with, whether it's his froggy, a train, etc. I love hearing him say, "Silly Charlie" when Charlie burps or makes a funny face.

Eli has also been really cuddly since Charlie was born - especially with Ben. On Tuesday (Ben's last day at home before going back to work), Eli kept going up to him and putting his arm around his neck in a side hug. It was very sweet.

And for some Charlie news, we took him to the doctor today, and he's now 8 lb 2 oz, back to his birth weight! We don't have to bring him back until he's a month old now since he hit that milestone. This means he gained 6 ounces in three days, which is a lot for a little guy. We may have a chunker in no time :)

I love both of my little boys so much! I'm still taking blog name suggestions, so keep 'em coming! :)

One Week Old

It's a little hard to believe a week has passed since Charlie was born. But I will say I feel SO much better than I did even a few days ago. Charlie is such a good baby - he has spent a good chunk of his first week sleeping and eating. He loves lounging in the boppy (shown below) that I won in one of the blog contests - it's snug and cozy for him and he often sits there looking around and eventually falls asleep.

Ben went back to work today. I was so glad he had a week off to help at home - Eli had a blast playing with him so much. Ben also did a ton around the house to get things organized and cleaned up. My parents were here through the weekend and then went home for a few days, and now my mom is coming back this afternoon to help for a few more days.

This morning I felt so happy - I was able to feed both kids and myself breakfast, take a shower, give Charlie a bath, and cleaned/organized my closets (basically realizing I have about 3 things that fit me right now in my awkward, very recent postpartum shape).

So after the first week, here are some stats:

• At his last drs appointment (Monday), Charlie weighed 7 lb 12 oz. Not bad since he'd of course lost weight in the first days after the birth. He's gaining an ounce a day, so that's right on track. I was a little worried because he was such a fast eater, but now I'm realizing it's a blessing!
  
  
• Packs of gum that I've gone through while nursing this week - 4 (it is still pretty painful, but things were much worse w/ Eli when he was a newborn, so I can't complain too much)
  
  
• Pounds lost - a measly 12. Come on, Charlie was 8 of those 12!! It took a while for my belly to go down after having Eli, so I didn't have too high of hopes, but still! I'm not one of the lucky few that can fit back into their normal jeans a week after delivery, darn it :)
  
  
• Number of times I have kissed Charlie's cheeks - every time he's in my arms, he gets at least five :) Those cheeks are SO soft and chubby. I just love it.
  
  
• Number of times Eli has been sweet with Charlie - too many to count. Last night Eli kept bringing books over to show Charlie and would point at the pictures and talk about them. It was so cute! He loves his little brother and so far hasn't been too jealous.

I'll post more pictures soon... but I'm off to get a nap in while I can!

First Few Days at Home

Charlie is 4 days old! He's been pretty sleepy so far, but has quite the yell to let us know when he needs something. I can't decide who had more of a piercing cry as a newborn... Eli or Charlie :) On our first night home, we were lucky enough to have a four-hour stretch of sleep, which was great.

The second night, Charlie woke up EVERY hour (from 11-6) wanting to eat. I thought I was going to die by the next morning. The problem was he wouldn't eat for more than 10 minutes or so at a time... luckily things were resolved the next morning when he finally pooped after not going for two days.

And now it appears that Charlie's pooping problems are a thing of the past - because last night he pooped at least five times in just a few hours - we lost count after a while (sorry for the potty talk on the blog). Luckily I had a nice four-hour stretch at the end of the night, which helped me not feel too awful by the time morning came.
Here's Charlie on the way to his first doctor's appointment on Friday - Ben took him (our pediatrician suggested this, which I thought was a great idea! I stayed home and took a nap and avoided an uncomfortable car ride - I'm definitely still healing)

The Klearmans came over for a visit on Saturday - here's Caroline holding Charlie

Eli with Caroline and Charlie

Davey (Uncle Munkle) and (a very hungry/grouchy) Charlie

My dad singing songs to Charlie

love those chubby cheeks!

Gram talking to Charlie

Eli and Ben having fun
(Eli has enjoyed lots of daddy time over the last few days)

First bath: