We gotta roller!

He may be a *little* behind ... but hey, this guy has got a lot of extra weight to move! :)

Dave kept telling me that Eli was so close to rolling from his back to his belly. But I read over and over that they will start by rolling from their bellies to their back, so I didn't believe him. The other day we were playing on the floor and he rolled to his side and started kicking his leg to push himself! I grabbed the video camera and caught it all on film! He was so proud of himself! He hasn't stopped since! Now we are working on him rolling belly to back :)

Trip to WA!

We waited four months before we made the trek to Seattle to show Eli off to our family. I decided to wait this long because of how bad the flu season was this year. I was warned by our pediatrician that we should at least wait 3 months prior to taking him on a plane (really anywhere!). And being a new mom, I wasn't going to not listen! I was so excited, yet so overly nervous about how he would do on a plane.

We decided to fly out of Chicago instead of Cedar Rapids (which we typically do) because it was cheaper and we also wanted to minimize Eli's fly time. If we flew out of Cedar Rapids, there would be a layover/2nd flight and we didn't want to do that. Eli did so well on the drive to Chicago. It was really the last 20 minutes that he started to melt down because he just wanted to be out of the car. Luckily we got to the airport and to our gate with an hour to spare to find that our flight had been delayed. We can count on at least one of our flights being delayed with any plane trip we make from Iowa to WA. Eli was having a hard time. I knew that he was exhausted and hungry. I had to make the decision of nursing now (about 5 minutes to boarding) or wait until we got on the plane. I decided to wait until we got on the plane so that he could fall asleep and hopefully sleep for a good portion of the flight. I also thought that because we had a small child that we would be able to board first. To my dismay, we were NOT able to board first. Instead, we were the LAST to board. Eli was sooooo HANGRY at this point. Who could blame him? He was SCREAMING as we walked down the aisle to our seat. Any every parent knows that when your child is hangry, they have to calm down first before they accept food from you. So I sat in my airplane seat, with my nursing cover, a poor twenty-something boy on my other side staring up so that it was very clear he was not looking my way while I wrestled with my screaming baby to try to get him to nurse. Luckily about 10 minutes of that he calmed down enough to start eating. He slept the rest of the flight. Haha. THANK HEAVENS.

 Poor exhausted baby!

We flew to Las Vegas before we went to Washington. David's uncle owns a dental practice in Las Vegas and we are planning on going there to work for him after Dave graduates. This trip was necessary because I needed to know if I could see myself living in Las Vegas. At first I was extremely hesitant and frankly, didn't want to even entertain the idea of living away from family at all let alone in Las Vegas. Though, after the visit, I found myself at ease with the idea of living in Las Vegas. There is endless entertainment, always cheap and quick flights to Seattle, and it is an amazing opportunity for David. 

The flight to Seattle was actually one of the reasons I felt at ease with the decision. It was so quick and so easy!! Eli did amazing!

Our trip was so nice and I was so grateful that Eli didn't get sick and did really well during the whole trip. Dave had only one week to spend before he had to get back to school and I decided to stay an extra week and a half. It was so fun to spend time with my sisters and my parents. Everybody couldn't get enough of how big Eli had gotten (really, how much weight he gained haha!)

Ryann was obsessed with Eli!! She was such a great cousin! It was so cute!!

Grandpa making Eli giggle!

The flight home by myself with Eli was absolutely terrible. It started out really positive, too! I knew that Eli had a bought of diarrhea, but I was really hoping that it would only mean a few poopy diapers and that was it. In fact, right before I even got into the TSA line Eli had a stinker. That was number 1. I thought this meant he possibly would be fine for the whole day. Oh boy was I mistaken. I smelled another one before we got on the plane. That was number 2. Then I was seated all the way in the back of the plane with 2 guys on my left and 3 guys on my right. I was hoping I would be seated next to some ladies to make the whole breastfeeding on a plane easier. That was not in the cards! As soon as we started to taxi I smelled stinky number 3! Even worse, I FELT it. He blew out. And there was nothing I could do about it for at least another 20 minutes. Worst thing? He fell asleep nursing as we ascended. SO, I had to wake him up and go change him. (PS, the changing table in the lavatory is terrible). After I changed him, he was upset (overly tired) and didn't want to nurse anymore so I didn't have a way for him to fall asleep. I wrestled with him for 20 minutes before he decided to nurse again to fall asleep. AND THEN! HE BLEW OUT AGAIN!!!!!! Luckily Eli had been sleeping for 2ish hours at this point (flight was 4 hours). So, went to change his 4th poopy diaper and change him a 2nd time. He did fine the rest of the flight. Until we landed. and NO joke. BLOW OUT NUMBER 3 and POOPY DIAPER 4. I was such a mess at this point. This was his last change of clothes and I was running out of diapers. I got out of the plane and found that my flight was delayed by two hours. I called dave just sobbing because I didn't know what to do. I was out of clothes, all of his blankets had poo on them, and I had just a few diapers left. (BTW, he pooped 2 more times after this.) Luckily I went to customer service and they took pity on a sobbing new mother and got me on an (somewhat) earlier flight to Cedar Rapids (20 minutes away from home) instead of my original destination, Moline (1 hour away from home). 

Well, when all is said and done, I am happy that Eli was really a trooper throughout the travel. He could have been REALLY fussy because of his diarrhea but he was really pleasant the whole time!

Smiles!

The moment that Eli first smiled because of something I did will always be a cherished memory! It is amazing the feeling that you get when your little one smiles back at you! Here are some of my favorite pictures of my favorite little guy smiling!

Christmas!

This year Christmas was very different than what we are used to! We usually spend Christmas with our families in WA, but because Eli was only 5 weeks old we stayed in Iowa and had our first Christmas alone. It was really fun! Dave and I decided to give each other our stockings on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas morning, which was a fun twist that we are going to continue!

I also had to snap a picture of Dave assembling Eli's Christmas gift on Christmas Eve. I figured that this was the first Christmas's of many in which he will be busy assembling a gift the night before!

1-2 Months

Here is Dave with our two babies! I can't even believe Eli was that small!

First baths are rough

First bottle! I was so worried that he was going to love the bottle so much that he wouldn't want to nurse anymore. 5 months later, Eli tolerates the bottle but would MUCH rather nurse! 

Still not loving the bath! :) 

Waving "hi" to Dad while he is at school!

 Truthfully, the first 1-2 months were so wonderful but oh so rough. They talk about mommy blues, and they are a very real thing. With all the extra hormones that are racing through your body, you just aren't your real self. That, added with this overwhelming love for this tiny human that you are so scared something bad is going to happen to and it is just an emotional roller coaster. Luckily, I had my mom there to help me through!

My First Half!

The actual event was more than a year ago, but since I am trying to go back and post some things that has happened in the past 2 years... this would be one of them!

I have been wanting to do a half marathon for a really long time. Ever since I started running as a hobby fish years ago, I kept putting it off because I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to do it the way I wanted. Really, I just didn't want to walk any portion. My friend Kelly (who is currently living in Illinois while her husband attends Dental School) and I were casually chatting about the races that she had signed up for and whether or not she wanted to do a half marathon. She quickly responded with YES. She said there was a half marathon close to her house in September and that we should do it. So we did!! I signed up for it in May, which gave me the perfect amount of time to train. Though, I didn't need to train too much more because my mileage was already pretty high at that point.

Of course I didn't sleep at all the night before and then the morning was full of the nervous butterflies that made you sick to your stomach.

As soon as we started the race I just felt like I was flying. It is much more fun to run alongside a ton of people then alone in your house. Haha. The adrenaline kicked in from the very start and it was one of the best feelings in the world!

David asked around what time he should be at the finish line to meet me. I had no idea what time to give him. I had never run 13 miles straight before. The most I had run was 11, but that was on a treadmill with no incline! I told him that I would like to do it in 2 hours so, be there about 10 minutes before that. I didn't have a watch on while I ran so I had no idea what time it was throughout. I could sense though that I was going somewhat fast since I was passing so many people.

By miles 11 and 12, my legs were SO sore. I had never felt that sensation before where your legs start hurting from running before you even end (usually I feel it the next day).

I got to the end and I kept looking for Dave, and I couldn't find him. As I crossed the finish line I looked at the time and I ended at 1 hour 46 minutes. He wasn't even there yet!

Dave felt so bad he wasn't there to cheer me to the finish line, but truthfully, I liked that he wasn't there. It was a perfect way to end the half. As silly as it sounds, I cried out of happiness alone surrounded by so many people (sheesh, you would think that I ran a full marathon or something with how emotional I was!). But, it was a personal goal that I did all by myself, and to beat Dave to the finish line was really awesome!

I felt so bad because Kelly had injured her knee early on in the race and had to finish 13 miles with excruciating pain in her knee. But she did it!!!

Now I can't wait to do another one! The next time I hope Dave will run alongside me. But shoot, having a baby totally got me out of shape!

P.S. I didn't walk!! 

A little help!

Living so far away from family sure is the pits sometimes. But it does have its perks too! My mom was so sweet that she came to spend 3 solid weeks here with me in the cold and miserable Iowa winter. She flew on thanksgiving day (a 12+ hour day of travel) just so that she could make sure that I survived as a new mom while Dave was trying to survive his 3rd year of Dental School superblock rotation. I can't even express how grateful I am that she did this. Not only will it be a sweet memory that I will always cherish, but those "mommy blues" that they talk about are OH so for real.

She helped with dinner, gave me much needed rest, and taught me tricks on how to soothe a screaming baby that still work! Who knew that a running faucet would be so mesmerizing??

While she was here we tried to do a little sight seeing. We took her to the Dental School and also to go see Captain Kirk's future birthplace in Riverside, IA!

I'm pretty sure the above picture was my mom's favorite part of the Star Trek museum. :)

Eli's at home check up

The hospital that we delivered at offered an at home check up within the first week of being discharged. I was so happy that they offered this! I got very used to the hourly check ups that they made on both Eli and I while we were in the hospital! I was breastfeeding and wasn't sure Eli was getting "enough".  Eli was born at 6 lbs 3 oz (Thursday) and when we were discharged he weighed 5 lbs 13 oz (Saturday). Our at home check up was on Monday (just two days later). The nurse weighed Eli and told us that he was ALREADY at his birth weight! What a huge relief this was! It was also a precursor to how fast Eli would gain weight... :)

Here is little Eli on the day of his check up. only 5 days old!

So little!!!!

The Birth Story

Time to get back into the blogging routine since our little Eli came into the world! I think I should start off with my birth story. Caution: It's long. But I took it straight out of my journal :)


The story begins at my 37 week appointment. I scheduled my appointment on my day off from work and I was to see a rotating Dr within the clinic. Typically, I can count on my appointments lasting anywhere from 20-40 minutes... this includes waiting in the wait room. Ten minutes went by, then twenty, then I noticed that those who were there after me, were already being seen. Thirty minutes gone. I decided that if forty minutes passed and I still hadn't been seen - I would talk to reception. Ironically, my name was called right at 40 minutes. So, I am a little flustered at the length of time that passed before I was seen. The nurse took my blood pressure - and it was 140/82. She made a comment about how that was fairly high and that they were going to take it again. After about 10 minutes of waiting, my blood pressure dropped to 130/80. The Dr. came in and told me that I was 3 cm dilated and about 90% effaced. In response to my questioning the high blood pressure, she responded "well, being this far pregnant takes a toll on you little ones. We would like this baby to come sooner rather than later. This is going to be uncomfortable and you might bleed for the next couple of days." While on my way home, I was thinking through the appointment I had just had. Marty had just told me the other day that if I wanted my baby to come ... I needed to tell my Dr. to strip my membranes. Well, we were not in a hurry to have little man come. We wanted to wait for my mom to fly in (on Nov. 27th) prior to delivery. Yet, I had a feeling that the Dr. did just that - strip my membranes ... without telling me that she stripped them. 


That appt. was on a Friday. That Saturday David and I did a huge overhaul on cleaning/organizing the house. We finally found the glider that we wanted and purchased last minute items that we would need. I even decided to wash his clothes (something that I was waiting on doing until my mom got here). I somewhat packed our hospital bags as well. All that day I was bleeding and crampy and had consistent pain in my lower back. But, we got it all done. 


Sunday and monday had passed. I stopped bleeding and my back pain went away. So, I felt like I was in the clear. This little boy was not ready to come yet and would continue to "cook" for another 2 weeks. I told mom to not worry and that I would have him while she was here. 


Then Wednesday came. That night I just had the weirdest dreams. I just felt... odd. I woke up that morning after dropping Dave off at the bus and found that I was bleeding. I called Dave and told him. Luckily, I had an appt. with my dr. that morning, so I was going to ask her about it there. Dave was excited when I told him I was bleeding... haha. I was scared and anxious. I read prior to my appt that if I were to see blood - labor was around the corner (likely, 24-48 hours away). When I asked my Dr. about it that morning, she did not seem too concerned with the appearance of blood. In fact, she made it sound like labor could really be another 2 weeks away and I should not be concerned. So, I went to work. That morning I just felt so odd. At work, they decided to throw my a baby shower. It was so nice!! I wish I was able to enjoy it more looking back, but I was scared because I was bleeding and not sure when little man would make his appearance. I started having back pain - similar to the pain that I had on Saturday. This wasn't too concerning to me, as I was having back pain throughout the end of my pregnancy. However, around 11am, I started noticing that the back pain was coming and going.... and they were aligning up with my contractions (the braxton hicks ones) about 5 minutes apart. This was concerning to me. A coworker had once told me that if I started to feel contractions in my back, that I should worry. At lunch I went to go take Lucy out. David called me and asked how I was feeling. I told him "well, I think I might be in labor." - however, I wasn't fully convinced myself that I was. I was thinking that these contractions were just like my braxton hicks contractions and that there was nothing to worry about. I told Dave not to worry and if they get worse at the end of the day, then I will call the Dr. I did grab those hospital bags from the house at lunch - just in case. Then I went back to work. The contractions were more noticeable, but I could still talk and walk through them so I wasn't concerned. Around 3:30, they were starting to get worse. I decided to call my Dr. - who basically told me that I should sit in a hot bath and they were likely to go away. Around 4:00 I decided to go home. I laid on the couch and decided to time how far apart the contractions were and the duration. Throughout this hour, they were so painful that I had to arch my back and squeeze something throughout them. They were about 4 1/2 minutes apart and lasting from 40-60 seconds. I called Dave promptly at 5 and asked when he was coming home. He was thinking about staying late to work on projects... I told him he needed to come home. While he was on his way, I decided to take a hot shower to see if they would in fact go away. The shower helped... but they were still going strong. Dave got home and decided that we should clean the house before we went to the hospital. He wanted to stall for little bit because he thought that the hospital might turn us away for being there too early, or for me not being in labor at all. Around 6:15 we headed out. Ironically, there was traffic on the way to the hospital. There is never traffic!! There was an accident and it took us 30 minutes to go 1/4 mile. Throughout this, my contractions were about 3 minutes apart and REALLY painful. I was pretty scared at this point! Yes, it crossed my mind... maybe I will have this baby in the car! We had heard from a couple of people that I should eat something prior to arriving at the hospital, because they won't let me eat when I get there. So, we decided to take the extra 5 minutes and stop at a fast food restaurant. I ate half the hamburger and couldn't continue. I was in pain! 


We arrived at the hospital and we see one nurse. She said that there was no other patients in labor and delivery so if I was in labor, they would need to call the on-call Dr. They hooked me up to the machines and strapped the heartbeat monitor on for Eli and then the contraction monitor for me. Right away, they could see that my contractions were coming about 3 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute each. After 4 contractions, the nurse said "well, I'll go call the Dr." Another nurse came in and said that they were moving us into our labor and delivery room. This was about the time I started to get a little panicky. I am not ready for him to come! Mom isn't here yet! Yet, it was happening. The nurse asked about whether or not I wanted an epidural, I requested that I get one as soon as they would give it to me. The nurse said they would call the anesthesiologist on call. When the Dr. arrived (around 9pm) she checked to see how far dilated I was - at this time, I was at a 6. She then broke my water (weirdest feeling ever) and then hooked up the heart rate monitor directly on Eli's head along with the monitor for my contractions. The previous monitor only measured the length of the contractions - this monitor would measure how strong they are. While we were waiting for the anesthesiologist, I decided to call mom and let her know that I was in labor. Looking back, I probably should have waited until after I got the epidural! Mom didn't answer, so Dave called Dad. Dave told Dad that I was in the hospital and that I was in labor. Dad handed the phone to mom, Dave handed the phone to me, and we just cried. Mom wanted to be there so badly, and I wanted her there too. Yet, Dave and I have done so many things by ourselves in the 6 years of marriage, that I felt it would be fitting for us to welcome our first baby, the one we tried for for so long, by ourselves.


I received the epidural around 10:00. That was heaven. The epidural was pure heaven!! I stopped feeling the contractions the moment she successfully inserted the spinal tap. However, I had to sit REALLY still while she put it in for about 10 minutes - in the space of those ten minutes, I had the strongest, most painful contractions I ever had. After the epidural, I decided to call Mom back. I was more calm at this point and was able to express to Mom how much I love her and though she wasn't physically there, we were going to keep her updates as if she was there. I started shaking. Not because I was cold or in pain, I was just shaky. This worried Dave a great deal. The nurse told him they were just "pregnancy shakes" and they are very common. After I called mom, I called Jen, and then Kim. I just told them that I was in labor but that everything was fine. They were hard phone calls to make, but I felt at home with Dave by my side.


After I made those three calls, Dr. Clevenger came in and said that she wanted to check how far I was dilated. It had only been an hour since I received the epidural. She checked how far dilated I was and then asked "Well, are you ready to push?" Thinking that she was joking, I laughed. Then she looked at her nurse and said that I was dilated to 10 and that she thinks that I should start pushing. This freaked me out! I wasn't ready to start pushing! I wanted to enjoy this epidural for a few minutes longer! I wanted to take a nap maybe! 

The monitor that I was hooked up to would increase in number when my contraction would get stronger. So, when the number got in the high 20's that was when I needed to push. I would push three times for 10 seconds and then stop for a minute or so until my next contraction came. In between contractions, Dave would feed me ice chips and kiss my forehead. He was so cute. He said I needed three spoonfuls of ice chips for each big push. We pushed for about 20 minutes and we weren't making a whole lot of progress. Dr. Clevenger then said that she wanted me to "labor down" , so we were going to wait for 30 minutes and let the contractions do their job to get baby further down the birth canal. Those next 30 minutes were the scariest, most nerve wracking 30 minutes EVER. They came and went, and the Dr. came back to try again. While pushing, I said that I didn't want a mirror to look at baby coming. But, the way that I had my legs up allowed me to view him come when he was closer. It was amazing motivation to see him come! Forty five minutes later, he was here. After the head was out, the rest of his body slid right out and they put him on my belly. He was amazing. Gorgeous. Handsome. Ours. 

Dave cut the umbilical cord and then they took him to get cleaned up and checked. He was 6 lbs and 3 oz of pure heaven. Little did I know... he would not be 6lbs for very long!!! Look at other posts to see how much he has grown! 

Little sleep was had for the next 48 hours while we were in the hospital. Eli would NOT sleep in the plastic container provided for him. He hated being swaddled. He wanted to be held. The medical staff was very strict when they said that we were not to sleep with baby. Well, that is the only way we were able to get ANY sleep. So I would hold the baby with the light on and rest my eyes (fall asleep) and once someone would knock, I would quick open my eyes and pretend I had been awake the whole time. Little did I know ... sleeping was going to be a struggle. 

Dave was really my gladiator. He did everything I needed. He changed ALL of Eli's diapers that first day. I could hardly move from the epidural and also the swelling from labor. Dave was so in love with this little boy that we brought into the world. Just completely smitten. Dave would also leave the hospital frequently to tend to our other little baby - our furry baby, Lucy. That was one of the hardest parts of being in the hospital was leaving Lucy. Luckily we had amazing neighbors that let her hang out during the evening times, and then Dave would come home 2 times during the day to let her out and play. Dave said a few times that it was hard to leave his baby to take Lucy out. I was so grateful that he did, because it took a lot of stress off!

He is just so beautiful! And that expression is to die for!