Eli: 7 months and crawling!

While I have a few spare moments (a very rare occurrence), I will update ya'll on the little bugger and how life is going in the Saenz household. It is always busy, usually interesting, and very blessed. The fact that Elijah turned 7 months snuck up on me. I feel like he JUST turned 6 months. Has the fast forward button been pushed on in life since we became parents? It seems so cruel...but so amazing in the same instance. On one hand, what happened to my little newborn? My 7 lb baby who was just learning how to smile and learning how to just wriggle about? On the other hand, it is so incredible how much he learning now. Like him crawling or making ALL kinds of new sounds. And I guess he can't do much of that without getting older, although I wish it was somehow magically possible. I feel like I was just in the hospital getting prepped for him to enter the world. The details are starting to fade a little but the big moments are still there. The feeling I experienced seeing him for the first time is sometimes replicated when I pick him up from daycare or sit on the floor with him and he crawls into my lap. It is this feeling of utter bliss and amazement that this little human is a creation of the love of two people who wanted him more than anything. What is really hard to believe is that in 5 months he will be a year. Yikes!

Besides our angel turning another month older, Carlos is finishing up wrestling season. He took one girl to State...the first time for his high school in 6 years. It is a pretty big deal and to say I am proud of my husband is an understatement. He works so hard with those kids and makes such a positive impact in their lives. And a great thing about wrestling season ending? I get my husband back on weekends and in the evenings! I will get a little relief with Eli's bedtime routine and maybe get to eat dinner and get dishes done before 8:30 (that may not seem late to most but when you are parents, it is BEDTIME!). I am excited to get things done around the house that have been neglected and to start working on some other "projects" that need to get started. The next 4 months are going to be very busy and I need my hubby to be around to help take on the heavy load we are about to encounter!

We are also planning on coming to AZ for Spring Break and I am terrified of bringing Elijah on a plane. At first I was really excited but now I am thinking it is gonna be a lot harder than I imagined. He is crawling and trying to keep him entertained and in one spot for more than 5 minutes is becoming a challenge. Changing his diaper and getting him dressed is about a million times harder now than it was when he was a newborn. I can't keep him still and I have mastered putting on a diaper and getting him into clothes while he is on his tummy. So keeping him on a plane for 2 hours, somewhat stationary, is going to be interesting. Plus all the stuff that comes along like the carseat, stroller, and luggage. If any moms who have travelled have any advice, give it to me! I just have to remember to breathe and relax. If anything too horrendous happens I will tell myself that one day it will be funny...right??

So onto milestones and what we have learned. This last month has been a big one!

MILESTONES

-CRAWLING!!!! He literally got up on all fours and scooted once one day and the next day he was taking a few "crawls" at a time! Now we are at the "I am officially mobile" stage and that is kinda scaring me! Babyproofing is in process and I am just enjoying every moment. He is so cute when his little butt goes up in the air and he just smiles like he so proud of what he is doing.

 Here is some proof :)

 Officially mobile!

Action shot!

-So of course Eli has found his tongue but recently he has been moving it around alot more and making different kinds of noises. They call them multi-syllabic noises and as a teacher, it is funny because it reminds me alot of how I decode words with my kids except in baby babble :) His inotations are hilarious too. He gets excited, happy, angry, frustrated, etc.

-Along with crawling he is also pulling up a little too. He will crawl over to me and pull up on me to his knees. The other day he did it with the coffee table too. Does it really happen that fast and so close to eachother?? It is crazy!

-He likes to hold his own bottle now. It makes me a little sad because I liked being needed in that way. But now he is a "big boy" and holding his bottle apparently comes with the territory. He also gets very upset if he sees the bottle while I am making it and it isn't in his hand in about 2 milliseconds. This might be mean, but I think it is adorable. My little piggy gets his food or else he lets you know all about how much it bothers him.

-Eli started to fake laugh and cry. I am not sure where babies learn this but I guess it is just a way of him expressing himself. It is pretty darn cute I have to admit. And when he gets frustrated he makes this panting sound. It is funny and I need to get it on video and post it.

THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED

-Like mentioned previously, how to dress a child on his tummy, his side, while crawling away and trying different ways to just get him to lay still. Sometimes you have to be creative!

-Babies grow too fast. Wah.

-Remembering to brush the teeth of a 6/7 month old is really hard. Especially since he only has two little teeth. I HAVE GOT to get better at it. Ugh.

-Date night needs to happen more than like once a month :) It is definitely easier said than done...especially when we both work. We are so busy with our schedules we just want to be all together as a family but it is good for our marriage to go out at least every 2 weeks just Carlos and I even if it is just for a quick drink.

-There is a reason for "transitional" tubs. We tried to put Eli in the big tub because he is so dang long that his baby tub just isn't cutting it anymore and he FREAKED. SO we are in transition. We are too small for the baby tub the big tub is just too much. So transitional blowup tub it is. We will be trying it out this weekend :/

-Teething will always suck. Nothing makes it better and it's hard on everyone. But it's a part of the whole experience and so I try to treasure it. "Try" is the operative word here.

-Once a baby learns to crawl, they really aren't lying when they say that there is no stopping them!

-Decorations in the house are a no-go. What decorations? Exactly. Slowly but surely everything is being put higher or being packed away. I guess it is time to be creative in that department for a while :)

And you know what time it is...!!!!

PICTURE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!

 Happy 7 months buggy!

 Very happy boy!

 We love our tongue!

 And there he is with his facial expressions. I have NO idea where he gets that from...*ahem*

 Sweet angel :)

 Got my toes!

 With Chico

 Our big boy!

 Carlos' face says it all. Taking photos of a wiggly 7 month old is NOT easy!

 Love his little teeth and messed up hair in this picture!

 He fell over and thinks it's hilarious...

 Goofy boy!

After bath time with daddy!

 Papa came to visit!

 Tired but happy to be with his Papa :)

 His Papa loves him VERY much!

Bonding :)

Eli: 6 months:

6 months. Half a year. 15 months I have known about Elijah. 6 months I have been able to hold him in my arms. I remember when Eli was first born someone asked, "Do you remember your life without him?" and I remember thinking "Duh. My life consisted of something called SLEEP." I thought it was such a dumb question because of course when a baby is 2, 3 weeks or even a month old, you remember your life without them. You haven't known them long enough to push the "old life" to the background yet. You remember what it felt like to be your own person with your own schedule. Ask me that question now and honestly, I can't. I remember the things Carlos and I got to experience before we decided to become parents but not what it felt like to not be Elijah's parents. I don't remember how it feels to be selfish anymore or on my own routine anymore. My life is my husband and my baby and an occasional glass of wine to enjoy being an adult :) My point is this: with every passing month I grow closer to my baby than I ever thought possible. I get to have a front row seat to the "Elijah Show" and I get to learn all his personality quirks. WIth that, I also get to experience the not so pleasant and the not so pretty things. The massive diaper blowouts, the fussiness, and especially the illnesses. THey aren't always fun but it's part of the whole mommy and daddy gig...and in the end, we are the lucky ones to have been able to take part in it all.

This last week, Elijah was diagnosed with RSV. It can be very serious for premature babies and babies under 6 weeks old. My nephew Tristan was hospitalied for it when he was a baby and so when Eli caught it, of course I was panicked. The horrible thing about RSV is this: it gets WAY worse before it gets better. And when the doctor has to warn you about that, it is no bueno. It started with a cough and then one day he woke up with a fever. It was only 100.8 (no freaking out to non-mamas...a baby only has a temp if its higher than 100.4) and so we kept him home. He already had a scheduled well check for his 6 month and so we took him that afternoon. Knowing that he was legitimately sick, tore me up inside. I knew there was nothing I could do but cuddle him and try to make him as comfortable as possible. I knew I couldn't stay home (all my days were taken from maternity leave...teachers don't get maternity leave so they use our sick days. Ugh. Whole other story) and that hurt even more. But my mom was (fortunately) in town and wathed him during the day and Carlos even stayed home most days because it just eased my fears a bit. My husband did such a wonderful job. He nurtured our baby boy and played with him to take his mind of being sick, and just all around showed how is really is the best daddy! The scariest part of Eli being sick? The fact he would NOT EAT. This obviously leads to dehydration in babies which could mean IV fluids if he didn't have any wet daipers. There were moments when he would scream when a bottle came to his mouth and all I could do was hold back teasrs because of course I thought the worst. THe nights were HELL. He would start to eat a few ounces at a time and wake up about every 2 hours because he woul dbe hungry. And gueses what? I started to get sick in the middle of all this too. Lack of sleep + getting sick = very cranky, non-patient mommy. I still had to get up for work and teach 19 little 6 & 7 years olds and it was rough. Really rough. Then, little by little, he started to get better. It was a very slow, gradual process but he is pretty much bck to normal now. He is eating almost 6 oz at every bottle and eating solid foods again. I know that sickness happens, and it will happen many more times as a mommy, but I am glad that at least now that he has been sick once, I might handle it better next time. Ok. I lied. I am gonna be a nervous wreck. And that is probably never going to change. Lucky Carlos :)

 We gave Eli a frozen peach because he literally would not eat or drink anything. He sucked on this for a good bit and it calmed my nerves knowing he was getting some sort of fluid. Thank goodness he drank a couple ounces at a time soon after this.

Cuddles from daddy are some of the best when sick :(

So onto the monthly highlights, milestones, and things we have learned :)

MILESTONES

-Elijah says "dada"!!! It is seriously so freaking cute and he says it to everything but we like to pretend that he only says it when he sees his daddy :)

-We have hit the "if I can't see mommy or daddy in plain view I am gonna scream" stage. The doctor said it is separation anxiety and every baby goes through it at some point. It is fine until I really need to get something done in the other room. I am learning to either let him scream (depending on the scream) or pull his walker in the room with me. Annoying to move it every time? Yes. But he is worth it. And it also may make me feel special. Yep. I am the mom that needs validation. Yikes.

-He is getting up on all fours and rocking and then splatting back down on his tummy. He wants to move so bad! He does this thing where he just moves in a circle round and round and occasionally tries to crawl and ends up just getting frustrated.

-He is sitting much better! He can sit straight up, look around, and lean forward while playing with toys. 

-He (all of sudden...like in the last 2 days) is holding his bottle! I was worried that maybe he just was not ever going to learn (you all know how rational I am) and I never forced it on him but he just started playing with it and now he knows how to get it into his mouth and out of his mouth and back in and then throw it. :) The doctor says to start sippy cup training so I'll update how that goes :/

-His motor skills are definitely improving. He likes to pass a toy from one hand to the other and he can even stack a star on his stacking tower! We get to about one and then we like to bang the others on any hard surface we can find.

-Speaking of banging, he LOVES to hit his toys on anything. To him, it is a cause and effect thing. To mommy and daddy, it is cute for the first few minutes and then it is headache inducing. Guess we better invest in some earplugs.

-He is going through a little separation anxiety. He wants mommy or daddy to hold him and if he is in his walker and we aren't right there, he fusses. We have been trying to remedy this by half ignoring it/distracting him with a new toy. It is kind of working. The doctor said that it is normal and it will pass. 

-He is getting his two top teeth. The gums are thinning out. It is only a matter of time I guess. Golly, he is growing too fast!

-Eli now reaches out to us. He turns around and hugs us to pick him up and it is the cutest darn thing. I love it. My heart fills with joy. I mean, it is pretty freakin' hard to now pick the child up when he does that. I am a sucker. A big one.

THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED

-A sick child is way more exhausting and patience testing than a newborn. Hands down. 

-This one is more me than Carlos I think but: as much separation anxiety as Elijah has for us, I have the same for him. I don't want him to stay overnight anymore as much and I don't want to leave him at daycare any longer than I absolutely have to.

-PATIENCE. I think we will constantly be improving this one.

-That it is ok if a sick baby doesn't eat AT ALL like normal. 

-I need a tranquilizer when my baby is sick. Like a real big one. Or a really long happy hour. I am a WRECK. I hope at least the next time I will calm down knowing how he reacts to certain things. But I still think a few bottles of wine on hand might be my own personal prescription. Ugh.

Well thanks for reading up on our little family once again! I hope the next post won't be so 

 Sitting on his US map. Can you tell his daddy is a geography/history teacher?

6 month photoshoot. He was still feeling a little under the weather so the pictures aren't the greatest but he sure does have some animated faces in some!

This is the "Really mom? Really?!"

Talking and being goofy for a second.

Talking at me. I just happened to catch it at a hilarious moment.

Chico is looking smaller and smaller as my baby boy grows!

That's right! We are beginning sippy cup training (and I say training loosely haha). He actually did really well but it is messy business!

Whoa. This sure is different!

He held it really well! He is such a smart boy :)

Blurry but this is the moment that he bit down (you have to do that to "activate" the liquid to come out) and it got all over him. Ha ha.

Yep. I am a big boy mom. That's me :)

At my cousin Tommy and Meredith's wedding! THere were not very many single guys there to catch the garter so we took Eli out there and he "caught" it! That is him with the bride, living out mommy's dream of dressing a child in a headband. But it's manly I swear. Cuz it's a garter. Not a headband. But is still kind of is. It's manly though...really.

Daddy and Eli dancing with Madison (my Goddaughter)

What a handsome baby! Ignore the garter imprints on the forehead. Those are manly too. Its like battle wounds.

I love this picture of Eli holding onto daddy at the end of the wedding. And I am the lucky girl who gets to be with them both every day and night!