Packing, shopping, and wishing I was sleeping...

So today was a busy day. I cleaned in the morning. Then we had lunch and just watched t.v. for a bit. After lunch I packed everything for Elijah and started getting things together for us. We went shopping at target for last minute things in the afternoon, and then it was back home for more packing! Elijah was so good all day and he just loved being out and about! I really wanted to buy him a sun hat and a water bottle with a fan top, but I couldn't find either of those things anywhere. I guess Target didn't get the memo that it's summer and stinkin' hot outside!! I bet i'll be able to find those things in Laughlin. I am so excited to be going on vacation! I am really tired from all the packing and stressing that I'm forgetting something, so I won't write a terribly long post today. I probably won't get internet access in laughlin so I may not post again until Thursday, but when I do I'll have lots of pics and fun things to share I'm sure. Elijah's first vacation!!!! : )

*Laura May*

A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day...

Today was a very strange day to say the least. Elijah had his apt. in the next city over and our gas light was on so Andrew left 45 minutes before our apt. to get gas, while I was getting Baby ready at home. He ended up having to go to 3 gas stations before he actually got gas, so needless to say we were a little behind schedule..15 minutes to be exact. So we show up late at the appointment, but everything goes well. We decided not to get any shots for Elijah just yet. He is growing well and is very healthy! After the appointment we decided to stop and get lunch at a delicious restaurant called Chipotle. We decided since it was packed we would eat in the car, with the air on of course as it was 100 something degrees outside. As we were just about to leave Andrew noticed that the engine was really hot. So we turned the heater on and decided once we got on the freeway the engine would cool down. At first it did, but after a little while it went well past the red and we just had to pull over so it wouldn't catch on fire or something. So there we were on the side of the freeway in a car that's so hot that we have to turn the engine off(so no air conditioning) with a very hungry 2 month old baby, and its 102 degrees outside!! That is the recipe for a panic attack! It was cooler outside the car so as it was BOILING in the car I decided I had to get the Baby out. I took him out in his car seat and held it on my lap as I knelt on the floor just outside my door. It seemed better, but with each car and semi that passed more and more dust began to fly up at us and it was going everywhere, and I could have the Baby in that!! I must have really looked distressed because within a few minutes a lovely older couple stopped to help us. They had seen that we had a Baby so they offered to let him and I sit in their air conditioned car! Andrew's Dad soon showed up and another man stopped and gave us a gallon of water for the engine. After all was said and done, and we were home and safe it really made me happy to see that there are some really nice people out there!!

Once we got home I decided to give Elijah a cool bath because he was so hot and sweaty. He really didn't like the cold!! Later that night he had a really bad tummy ache or gas and he was miserable. I think it was because my burrito from lunch had salsa! poor little darling he just couldn't get comfy so I thought we should try and give him a nice warm bath to help him feel better and it worked!! He was so happy...and then it was time to get out! He started crying again right away and he was so sad again. So I just rocked him and sang to him and he soon fell asleep. He must have been so tired from all the crying! We swaddled him a new way tonight, but I forgot to take a pic so I will post one tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will be packing and cleaning before our vacation to Nevada. I just can't wait to get there!!

*Laura May*

Decisions, decisions, decisions, and a lovely blanket...

Today was a bit of a stressful day. Elijah didn't nap well, so I wasn't really able to get much done. What's really stressing me out though, is that Elijah has his two month check up tomorrow and he is suppose to be getting his first set of shots and I don't know which ones to have him get! I have been doing a lot of research, but I am just not sure what to believe! Decisions you must make on your child's behalf are the hardest decisions I have ever had to make!

On a much brighter note my friend from church stopped by to day and gave me the most adorable blanket for Elijah! It is an Aden and Anais blanket and it is so amazing! I am just so excited to learn how to swaddle Elijah in it! Tomorrow I will upload a picture of Baby in his new blanket!

Well I'd better get a good nights sleep... I'll be doing more research in the morning!

*Laura May*

Baby burrito, Bad dreams, and a Boiling bedroom!

Today Elijah slept quite a bit. I have found that if I swaddle him he will sleep a lot longer than if I don't. I always swaddle him at night, but usually not in the day. So when he sleeps in the day he wakes himself up because he flails his arms and legs! So today I swaddled him, but left his arms out to see what he would do and he slept for about 30 minutes and then he woke himself up! So I re-swaddled him like normal and he slept for 3 1/2 hours and I had enough time to start dinner. I made barbecued ribs, corn, and rice pilaf, and we had rice pudding for desert!

Our bedroom is just so ridiculously hot! I have to leave the fan on all day and open the window if it's cool at night and it's still like an oven in here! Poor Baby... he loves to be swaddled, but here we are sleeping with no sheets and he has a blanket wrapped all around him. I don't know if I should just leave him un-swaddled and have him wake up a lot or just keep things the way they are. I guess if he's sleeping 8 hours or so then he's probably pretty comfortable, but he is so hot and sweaty when I un-swaddle him when he wakes up!

He makes the cutest little faces before bed! He will pout his lips and look intently at you and then he'll laugh and smile and he's just so lovable! He went to bed around 9:30 tonight and he woke up abruptly at 10:30 and he was crying so frantically! Normally he will wake up and lay there for a while before he starts to cry. I think he had a bad dream because as soon as I picked him up and whispered to him he fell right back to sleep! I don't even know if babies can have bad dreams, but it seemed an awful lot like that was it. Poor little Darling!

*Laura May*

Two months old today!

Elijah is two months old today! I can't believe how fast time is flying by! Daddy dressed Elijah again today. He was wearing his red, white, and blue robot onesie with matching stripped trousers (pants) and his blue bunny booties. He looked adorable! We went to our favorite restaurant today, The Big Cheese. Baby got a bit fussy towards the end, but as soon as I took him out of his stroller and walked him around the arcade he calmed down and fell asleep. He just loves those bright lights and loud noises. Baby slept well today and he got to spend a lot of time with his Daddy since he had the day off! He had a little tummy ache again today, and I realized that the only thing that I have on a daily basis is vegetables so it must be some sort of greens that causes it. I guess I should have figured that since they are one of the main causes of gas in babies. Anyway, my sister suggested that I lay him down and lift his legs up right towards his chest and it worked right away!! Thank you Sarah!

Here is a picture of Elijah's feet while he was asleep! They are so precious!

*Laura May*

Diaper bling!

Yesterday I was very tired and I forgot to write about a very funny thing that happened that day. The baby was on my lap and as I brought him up to my shoulder he grabbed my nose and managed to pull out my nose ring(It's tiny!!)! My first instinct was to grab his hands and make sure it wasn't in one of them because he always sucks on his fist and I was worried he would swallow it! Well it wasn't there so I started to look all over the bed and my clothes and it was nowhere, so I moved to the floor and started moving the carpet with my fingers hoping to find it, but I didn't. By this point I was freaking out. Of course I always think the worst so I was preparing to go to the emergency room because I was sure that Elijah had swallowed it!! I calmed down a bit and suddenly thought It might have fallen into his onesie so I unbuttoned the bottom and lifted him up and looked inside, but it wasn't there either!! Now I was frantic looking everywhere again and I even started to cry! I was totally hopeless, but I thought I would check his diaper as he needed a new one anyway, I carried him into his room, laid him on the table, took of his diaper and there it was! I have never been more relieved in all my life. Then to top it off I looked at Elijah's face with a very stressed out expression on my face and He had one of the biggest smiles he has ever had, and as soon as our eyes met he started laughing! Of course I couldn't help myself and I started laughing to and hugging him because I knew he'd be ok! : )

Today was a less stressful day you might say. We took Elijah to his Great Grandpa and Grandma's house today for the first time. It was sad because it was the first time we had been there since they passed away, but there are so many great memories and they are in Heaven now. When we got home we just hung out and rolled pennies from our change jar so we can exchange them for bills, and we watched movies and just had a relaxing day. Andrew had band practice so I took Baby upstairs to feed him. He had another tummy ache or gas today. It's the strangest thing it only happen once in a while and it only last for no longer than an hour, but what happens is he frantically cries and stops and cries and stops and nothing I can do helps him so I am sure it's either a tummy ache or gas. I will always give him medicine and rock him and pat his back and talk to him and it gets better pretty quickly. It must be something that I am eating, but I see no correlations. I am just so happy once he feel better!

*Laura May*

Ready, set, burp!

This morning Elijah had a tummy ache and he just wanted to sit on his Daddy's lap and be burped. He absolutely loves to do that! He was so sad and we could tell he just wasn't feeling well so after he had been burped for a while he started to cry again so I cuddled him and hummed to him and he calmed down and fell asleep. When He woke up a few minutes later he was much better. He smiled and laughed for the rest of the day! He took a long nap in the afternoon and I had time to clean up a bit.

My sister gave me this adorable little book called fit mama and it talks about using your baby as a weight when you exercise and how it's fun for both him and you, plus you get a work out. So tonight I gave it a try and he loved it!! He was smiling and looking all around so intently. I think I will start doing that every day and make it part of our routine. Along with a walk around the block and yoga a few times a week.

In the last week Elijah has really got a grip on where both his fists are and he loves...I mean loves to suck on them. They are always in his mouth and he just giggles and makes loud noises! It is so cute! I definitely think he will be a thumb sucker because he really doesn't care for his dummy(pacifier). He is just so precious!

Tonight I told Baby a story...It was the first made up story he's every heard! : ) I remember loving that as a kid and thinking that nobody else got to hear that exact story but me. He fell asleep half way through and he was just so adorable. He's sound asleep now and I am very tired also, so I'm off to bed now.

*Laura May*

curiouser and curiouser

Today Elijah had his first walk! It was just around the block to our cousins house for dinner, so it wasn't really a proper walk, but it was still a first! I am hoping to start taking him for walks around the park soon. I would like to get a jogger and maybe join a mummy and baby jogging group when He's a bit older! I also really want to do mummy and baby yoga! :) Elijah didn't sleep very much today, just a few short naps here and there, but he was happy all day as usual! He seems to be even more alert and curious each and every day. I was holding him after he woke up from a little sleep and he was turning his head from side to side pretty quickly for a good 10 minutes. It was like he didn't know what to look at so he was trying to look at it all at the same time! feeling very tired today, so this will be a short one.

*Laura May*

sleeping cutie

Elijah slept for eight and a half hours last night! We were so excited! I really thought getting him to sleep through the night would be difficult and that it wouldn't be till he was six months old or so. Maybe I felt this way because of all the stories I've heard about sleep depravation and letting your baby cry and all that. I'm sure things will change as he gets older, but for right now this is great. It was really hot today so I took off his onesie and laid him on the bed next to me while I was reading and he fell right to sleep. He loves to lay on our bed with the fan on, puts him straight to sleep. There are really only a few things he doesn't like: Being in his swing(which only has one setting, FAST), getting out of his bath, and having his nose cleaned: ). Other than those few things he only cries when he's hungry or if he has gas! I weighed him today and he is eleven pounds already! I can not believe how fast time is going by, I suppose I ought to get used to it. He'll be asking to borrow the car in no time : / At least we have technology so each day I can take pictures and remember exactly how he is at each milestone!

*Laura May*

Dot your 't's and cross your eyes?

Today our baby boy is eight weeks old! It is so depressing that it's almost been two months since he was born! This is a picture of him this morning. He was looking out the window and the blinds were closed. He kept going cross-eyed and all the while he had a concerned look on his face, it was the cutest thing and we couldn't stop laughing! He was such a good boy today(he always is!). I got lots of cleaning and laundry done while he laid in his crib and watched his Wonder pets. He didn't care much at all for his dummy(pacifier) today and he kept spitting it out and smiling! Daddy dressed him this morning in his little DKNY onesie with matching blue pants! He looked simply precious, and Daddy got to see just how happy baby is in the morning! He fought sleep all day today and he just wanted to be held and cuddled a lot which is never a problem because I love to hold him and I miss him the second I put him down. He is sound asleep now and snug as a bug!

I think we will have to start thinking about moving him into his own room soon because he is going to outgrow his newborn napper (which is in our room) pretty soon. I can't even bare to think about him not being at the foot of the bed though, it's so much harder than I could have imagined. I know that the sooner we get him used to sleeping in his own room the better he will sleep at night as a toddler so it really is best for him, as I keep having to remind myself. It's funny being a parent forces you to be selfless, but at the same time it really makes you selfish when it comes to holding and just being with your baby. I really don't think I'll be ready to leave him for a quite a while. Luckily since I don't have to work and he's never had a bottle, I really won't have too! : )

*Laura May*

Bills, Pills, and Baby thrills...

Today was a busy day! I cleaned the bathroom, did laundry and ran errands. Normally that would be pretty easy, but things aren't as easy as they used to be before Baby! I had to make a trip to the bank and the pharmacy, luckily Elijah loves car rides! Today Elijah laughed a lot which was so lovely. He was so good while I cleaned the bathroom, he just laid in his crib and watched his mobile intently (he loves it!!) He got a bit fussy so I moved him to my room and put on Yo Gabba Gabba, which he really seemed to enjoy. He soon feel asleep and I could get on with my cleaning. Later on we went to pick up Daddy and again he was very good! I guess there was an earth quake...I never feel them! It was Baby's first! We got a lovely gift today, it was a two little rock star outfits and someteething tablets which I am sure will come in very handy in the coming months! I am so curious to see how soon the littleguy will get his first tooth.

I am really missing my family lately and I can't wait for everyone to see Elijah as he has changed so much! I also can't wait for him to meet his Aunties Natassia and Sarah, Uncle Richard, and cousin Alexander!!

I am so excited because we are going to Laughlin, NV in a few weeks. It will be our first vacation since England in December, and Elijah's first ever!! (Outside

of the womb at least!) I think it will be lots of fun! I am so excited that I am already starting to get things ready and I've made a packing list! : ) So far this summer has been lots of fun!

*Laura May*

Good morning puffy face : )

This is basically what Elijah looks like every morning, with the smile and everything! He is always so happy to wake up and cuddle! His little face is also puffy in the morning... it is just the cutest thing!

Today was our Barbeque swim party and it was lots of fun! I sat by the pool with Baby and he just watched the water moving around and everyone swimming. He was a little fussy towards the end because he got a bit hungry, but as soon as he ate he was ready to play again and sleep! We also went to church tonight to watch Daddy play and He slept the whole time!!

This entry is a bit short because I am very tired from being in the sun and it's late. I will write longer tomorrow: )

*Laura May*

Fabulous First Fourth of July!

Our 4th of July was great... well the evening was at least! I had planned on making my American flag cake with blueberries and raspberries and the whole cake was frosted and ready for the berries, but when I opened the raspberries to wash them they were covered in mold!! I had bought them the night before, so I was really upset because I couldn't finish the cake. Anyway once we got on the road to Palm Springs(which is about an 45 mins. from where we live) things got much better! The baby slept the whole way there and he looked so peaceful. We had hamburgers for dinner and we went swimming! At around 9 p.m. we went outside to set off the fireworks. They were just small ones, because those are all you can do there by law. The baby and I sat inside and looked out the screen window. It was lots of fun and the baby seemed to really like them! He loves bright lights like the t.v. and windows so I am not surprised! Some of them were really loud and he didn't cry once! I did cover his ears a few times because I didn't want to scare him, but he loved it! He actually feel asleep halfway through. He looked so cute all bundled up in his blanket and red cardigan! We didn't get home till really late and we thought Elijah wouldn't sleep long because he was off schedule, but he actually slept 7 and1/2 hours! It was overall a great day! It was also Elijah's first holiday!

Today we went to Target in Redlands. I got a bathing suit because I will need one this summer and I didn't have one. I really like it, and I am so happy that I found what I was looking for at the first place we went! We are going to a barbeque/pool party tomorrow, so I just might wear it for the first time! I Hope everyone had a great 4th!!

*Laura May*

Bathtime!

Yesterday he also had a proper bath this shows how much he loved it...

*Laura May*

Gyro-K, and the ABC's

Today we went to have lunch at a restaurant called "The Fat Greek" I had a Gyro plate and Andrew had a falafel plate... let's just say baby doesn't like Greek food! Poor little boy, we think he had a tummy ache because he was crying a lot before bed tonight and he just couldn't fall asleep! He looked so sad and we felt, for the first time, that there wasnothing we could do to help our beautiful son! I ended up giving him his dummy(pacifier), which henormally doesn't care much for, and cuddling him till he feel asleep. It is so amazing how responsive he is to our voices also, I was whispering in his ear and humming and he calmed right down and only whimpered now and again when his tummy hurt. Ithink he is feeling ok now, because he is sound asleep and snoring even!! Bless him: )

Earlier on in the day I was reading one of my favorite books "What to Expect The First Year" (Which my sister Sarah gave me!!) and It stated different capabilities your child will have at what age, and it got me thinking... When I was younger I used to plan out what I would teach my children and how much t.v. i would let the

m watch and things of that nature, and one of those things was teaching them the ABC's at a really young age. Later on once Elijah woke up I was changing him and I started singing them to him and he just lit up. He has never started at me so intently before. He will often copy faces I make at him, and it really looked like he was trying to do what I was doing, it was the most precious thing. I really think he is going to be a smart little fellow!!

Our neighbors were having a yard sale today and I saw a big teddy bear and I really wanted to get it for Elijah so I

went over while they were closing up and asked if it was still for sale and they gave it to me, along with a highchair/shopping cart cover!! I took a picture of Baby with his little presents while he was watching his very first episode of "Wonder Pets"!

*Laura May*

Sitting up and spitting up...

Elijah just loves to sit up lately. He will often fidget and squirm if he is lying down and he is so happy and content once you sit him up and hold his chin. He also loves to have his back patted. He doesn't spit up very much at all, but if he does it's usually when he is sitting up!

This evening we went to the Car Show in the town center and walked around and looked at all the cars. We took a few pictures of baby with some of the really great cars. My favorite is one of Daddy and Elijah with a 1968 Shelby Mustang! We were talking about whether we think Elijah will like cars or super heros more because he already has quite a collection of both. I can't wait to see what he will be like as a toddler, but at the same time I don't want him to get any older than he is! He already weighs 10 and 1/2 pounds and it is so depressing. He gets a little bit bigger each and every day. I almost wish I could freeze time!

I talked to my Mum today also... My Dad and her are camping for the weekend. Quite close to where we are too, hopefully they'll be able to visit on the way home to see Elijah! I am still very, very excited for this weekend! I am going to make a cake and decorate it like an American flag with cream frosting, strawberries and blueberries! I can't wait!

*Laura May*

Smiley Little Man

Today was a lovely day. We woke up and since Andrew was off of work, we watched a bit of t.v. and just relaxed. Then we went out to the town center and walked around the shops and stopped at the bank. We had dinner at a lovely little place called The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe. Baby went to bed a bit late tonight because we watched a movie and he was wide awake and as happy as could be. He is starting to smile so much lately and he laughs a lot too!! Every night before bed I give him a little sponge bath and twice a week a proper bath, and boy does he love bath time. He just smiles and smiles! Tonight he was especially happy and after I put his jammies on and started to swaddled him he was laughing! He is sound asleep now and he won't wake up for 5 or 6 hours, he really is such a good little sleeper, especially at night.

I am very excited for the 4th of July! We are going to our friends house for dinner and fireworks and Andrew is leading worship at church in the morning. I am a bit nervous that the fireworks might frighten Elijah, but he really doesn't seem to mind loud noises. In fact he seems to really like them. When Andrew was recording drums for his new cd the other day we were upstairs in our room and as soon as the drumming started his eyes got very big and he was just listening very intently... so intently that it put him right to sleep! I think it will be a great day!

I am just loving my little smiley boy!

*Laura May*