What do you want?

A Strong Man?

A Determined Man?

A Laid Back Kind Of Man?

Or A Man That Can Melt Your Heart With His Smile?

Welcome to the world Elijah

First off, I need to extend a sincere and HUGE thank you to Cyndi for hosting a most spectacular party, once again. I kept calling her the hostess with the mostest, but it really is true!!!! She cooked an incredible lasagna, meatballs, sausages. She also baked 2 peach pies, um from SCRATCH with the peaches she picked off her peach tree!! The Cabana was well stocked with refreshments and the pool was nice and warm.

Luckily the weather cooperated awesomely and it was still a great opportunity to catch a little sun. Thank you to everyone who came. Thank you to all those who brought goodies to eat, and also goodies for the baby and Big sister Hannah.

But this entry would be priceless without pictures right?

Oma with her granson. Finally awake! Elijah has seemed to sleep through every encounter with Oma up until the party where they were able to spend some quality time together!

Hannah, Brooke and cousin Laureena in the hot tub.

Bride to be Patty. How many days left????

Cousin Bailey!

David and Aunt Louanne

Our fisrt family photo, and the skinny on cloth

So I was going through some of Hannah's paperwork from school the other day and I found this family portrait! I thought it was pretty good and especially loved the picture of her little brother :)
Not many of you may know this but I have been using cloth diapers during the day. It is definately a learning process which was halted by the breastfeeding issues. But I have started to really use them at home. Yesterday we spent all day in cloth which was a great accomplishment I thought. Here are some cloth diaper pictures. They have really come a long way from the pins and prefolds stage!



And then I had to share this picture. It is status post breastfeeding.

The German in Elijah

If you grow up in Germany you will sleep with down. Down pillows, and down comforters. In the past few yeats down ahs become more popular in the US and we actually have a Down comforter on our bed year round. I love it!!! And so does Elijah. Here is his favorite spot on the couch with my down pillow. He slept here for 2 1/2 hours and was in pure heaven!

Nursing clothing rant

Now that breastfeeding has become easier, I have no issues breastfeeding in public. I do use a nursing cover and wear nursing shirts. Often times one layer lifts up and you are still covering your belly, as we all know a post pregnancy belly does not really need to be flaunted.

The rant now comes two fold. First off the clothing are EXPENSIVE!!!!! Why??? I have no idea. There are holes cut in it for heavens sake!!! Motherhood maternity in the mall carries nursing but the sizing limits my choices to 2 shirts and I already have them in all colors.

So I found Motherwear Again they have great clothing at"nursing prices". So what do you do in things you wish for?? A wish list!!!! And that is what I did on their site, and now I have options for the holidays :)

Just like an angel

Fashion advisor

There are not many people who have their own fashion expert on staff. Not unless you are Hannah. Her and her BFFL are deifnately up to par on what the current fashion "in's" are. The following outfit was hand picked a the gap. Notice the leggins with the mini skirt and the half sweater with angora. That morning I was brushing her hair and she said "Mom, how do you like my look?" I of course told her I loved it and her reply was "Mom, what is your look???"

Hahaha ok that morning I had on a ratty t shirt with an old pair of sweatpants. Not quite a current or exciting "look". In fact my closet lacks any type of look at all. I still have a bit of weight to loose and therefore nothing fits on my bottom half. I need to be on a show like what not to wear in order to rectafy the lacking in my closet!!

In this corner, weighing in at....

Today Elijah and I went to visit Alison, my former school advisor, but current life advisor still and tour the beautiful new Arts and Science building they completed. Wow I am jealous!!!! They did a wondeful job.

On the way home we stopped at the dr's office since we have a busy week and I wasn;t sure when I could go.

Stats of course:
Birth 9lbs 10 oz 21 inches
1 week 9lbs even
2 week 9lbs 4 oz 21 inches

1 month????????
11lbs and 23 1/2 inches long Can we say growth spurt?????? We knew he was feeling heavier!!

Turning into a real baby

Elijah is turning into a real baby. In that I mean that he is starting to have sleep and awake patterns. Luckily he knows day and night pretty well and sleeps for a few hour blocks at night, eats and falls back to sleep. After 7am however he intermixes a few awake periods where he hangs out and takes in his surroundings.

And here are my sleeping beauties!

November 1rst

That is the day that I think I am going back to work. Elijah will be 10 weeks old and I think it is a great compromise between 8 and 12 weeks. I definately miss work however now enough to want to go back right now. I really want to establish a better milk supply and also get Elijah sleeping through the night. That gives me 6 more weeks to enjoy with my family!

Breastfeeding revisited

Well I went back to breastfeeding, although not exclusively. After emailing a lactation consultant about my low pumping supply she suggested I put Elijah back to the breast. We had taken a week break and I Was really thinking he wouldn't do it again as the bottle id so much easier of an eating task. Well my little man is a boob man and had no issues going back. Breastfeeding is also much more enjoyable now that my nip nips have had a chance to heal ALOT. SO now we do it all. I breastfeed pump and supplement with formula. We go back to the dr this week for his 1 month check up.

The best spots in the house

So there is no doubt that Elijah likes to be held. He really isn;t much into bouncers or swings, just good ole fashioned close contact. Here are some of his favorite spots in the house.

Sisterly Love

Hannah absolutely adores her new brother. She spends time helping to feed and hold him, which is great because it gives me time to pump. It is also great to see Elijah staring at people now. He looks intently and scrunches his little eyebrows. Here are some pictures.

First bath

The umbilical cord finally came off yesterday and someone was in some serious need of exfoliation. Hannah was my big helper and we gave little man a bath. Of course the thing that Hannah thought was the funniest was when Elijah peed right over his tub and into the big tub. She called it a gymnastic feat!!

Thinking its a relaxing time

Realizing he could be spending this time eating

Nice and clean baby

New pictures

Hannah and Mommy

Rare occasion when eyes are open

A picture taken by our photographer in training, Hannah

The non-pediatric association position that Elijah works himself into

The scoop on poop and 2 week appt

Many of you have been interested in the bowel habits of our son. As of yesterday he was on an every 3 days poop schedule. He definately saved it all up in those three days, for me of course :)
Today though he surprised me with another rendition, even though he went yesterday. So all is well in the poop patrol.

Today we had the 2 week appt. Some stats:
Birth 9lbs 10oz
left hospital 8lbs 15 oz
1 week 9lbs even
today 9lbs 4 ozs.

The pediatrician was not impressed with the weight gain and of course asked right away whether I was breastfeeding and how often I was feeding him. I kindly told him that it was every 1 1/2 hours at least. He told me to increase my fluid intake but if I drink any more water I risk water poisoning.

Now for all of you that may remember the same issue arose with Hannah. By 1 month she still had not made it back to her birthweight.

Elijah has been getting formula at night so really he should have gained even more weight. Therefore I made the decision that I would stop breastfeeding however will continue to pump and we will give combination bottles of formula and breastmilk.

We gave a bottle upon returning home and he was a happy camper, and so is mom. I do feel bad, however he will continue to benefit from breastmilk.