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!