Kisses...Nothing Better.

Eli has finally mastered the closed-mouth kiss and he loves to give kisses. A few times he's even signed "I love you" to Lehr or me after planting one on us.....pure joy.

34 Weeks

We all went to the pool this morning and Lehr snapped a few photos. Here I am, larger than life!

#1 Dad

Eli has the best dad ever. Seriously. After a fun-filled weekend, which also included some rough times due to lots of bumps and scrapes and lots of people, Eli unfortunately appears to have his first bout of pink eye. He's not been a happy camper this afternoon, due to the constant state of goo clouding his vision. However, after helping Mom and Dad with tools out on the deck, Eli was about to meltdown, out of exhaustion and frustration. Lehr immediately took him outside to take out the trash (a favorite chore of Eli's), followed by 15 minutes of quality car time. Eli loves his car, as I've mentioned before. We've let Eli ride down the driveway, but tonight Lehr upped the ante by pulling him up the hill outside our cul-de-sac and allowing him to ride all the way down to the grass. Eli loved it, as you can see from the video below.

As far as the weekend goes, it was great. We kicked off the holiday weekend with a pool party and potluck in our neighborhood. Eli loves the baby pool. Then we saw some friends from Alabama on Saturday before a late nap, but not before Eli scraped his knuckles pretty good on the driveway. Then he went to Home Depot with Daddy and "D" and knocked his lip, which drew blood and a sore mouth for the rest of the day. Sunday Eli played at church and then we all went downtown with Tyler and his parents for the local Jazz Festival. Finally today we spent the morning at the pool and then went to a Memorial Day BBQ at the house of "D". All in all, not too shabby!

Goodnight Moon

Eli loves that book. And any book, for that matter, that contains a picture of someone sleeping, or at least lying down in a bed. He tilts his head to the side, sometimes with a hand there in there (his sign for 'sleep') and says, "nigh-nigh". This is one of my favorite things (of course!).

Eli has recently started tilting and "nigh-nigh"ing when he's tired or ready for bed. He often does it if nap time does not come when expected, like yesterday when he spent a long day running errands with dad. He came home and started "nigh-nigh"ing during his late lunch. He will also point to random toys in his room that are horizontal and say "nigh-nigh". Often this includes a Tickle-Me-Elmo that Eli covers up with a blanket after he indicates that the stuffed animal is sleeping.

Again tonight, when we were out past his bed time, Eli told us it was time for bed. We went down to Piedmont Park to take in a little of the Atlanta Jazz Festival with Tyler and his parents. The two boys played great for a few hours while we relaxed on the lawn and listened to some music. Around 8:00, Eli started circling Tyler's mom's chair and saying "nigh-nigh". Then he chanted that the whole car ride home. He obviously did not fight the crib at all tonight.

Eli's First Product

Since I gave Eli his first buzz/surfer/military cut last week, I've been meaning to experiment with the Mohawk-ability of it. We've been running around so much this past week that before I have a chance to fix his hair, it's already time to leave the house. Finally I remembered this morning. After a short lounge with mom and dad in bed, and a few runs around the upstairs, naming everything in sight, I took Eli to my bathroom to apply some gel and see what the end product might be. Eli sat very still again while I manipulated his fine hair and added enough gel to hold my hair in a spike....check out the end result.

More Favorites

I tried to count how many times I mention a new favorite thing; I stopped counting at 15. It seems Eli does a lot of stuff I deem 'favorite'....

I love how Eli takes inventory every day. If we are sitting at the table eating breakfast, he'll point to me and say, "mommy", then he'll point to his bowl and say, "meal" (oatmeal), then he'll point to the phone and say, "hello", then he'll point to the empty chair and say, "chair. daddy." This can go on for quite some time. He of course also points to my belly and says, "be be" and then leans over with a closed mouth (finally!) to kiss it. Melt, melt....

I love how helpful Eli wants to be. Now that the weather is warmer, we spend most days outside, so when I get Eli dressed each morning I put sunscreen on him, just in case. He is pretty good about this for now; he'll even rub some on his own skin if you ask him to. Recently he's started to sign 'please' and then say "mommy" while he holds out his hand. This means he wants some lotion for his hand so he can rub it on mommy. Love it. He also is completely beside himself with joy when he gets to help daddy do something, anything, requiring tools. Lehr usually blows out the garage and/or driveway a few times a week and Eli loves to be chased with the blower.

Eli loves the camera (big shocker, I know). He received a play, spiderman camera for his first Christmas and he loves the gift even now. It has sound effects when you push the buttons, and Eli loves to pretend to take pictures with it each day. I currently have it hooked up to his stroller so he can play with it while we walk. His newest trick is holding it up to his mouth or eye and saying, "Chee" (cheese). Then after a few moments he'll say, "mommy" and point it toward me right before he depresses the button. Last night he did the same to Lehr ("Daddy!!").

Finally, I love how much Eli loves the water. We went to our neighborhood swimming pool tonight for the season opener. Eli had an absolute blast in the kiddie pool which was about a foot deep. He can sit, walk, or even crawl in there without going under water, which makes it easy for me to let him play in there without getting in myself.

Ups & Downs (mine)

Today was great and horrible, all at once. This morning we lost power just as we were leaving the house to meet Cooper and his mom at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I called Georgia Power immediately to report it (in case it was my fault for not paying a bill on time), and they assured me it was the entire neighborhood and they'd get right on it. Luckily I have a wonderful neighbor who came over to manually open my garage door for me (I'm too short and too pregnant), so at least Eli and I could get out of the house. Of course we hit crazy traffic and sat on the highway for about 20 extra minutes. But once there, we spent the morning at the gardens where the two boys played in the fountains for the majority of the time. They loved it! Eli thought it was like a big shower, I guess, because he kept running underneath to let the water cover his head and face and then he'd run out with a HUGE grin. It was beautiful weather and the garden was a great distraction from all of the boxes at the house.

When we returned home, however, there was still no power. This meant the temperature in the house, specifically upstairs where Eli's bedroom is located, was hot. Very hot. The poor kid had an awful time going down for a nap considering he had no fan, no air...nada. I called again at 2pm to check on the status and they assured me power would be restored at 3:30. You can guess that at 3:30 there was still no power, so I called again and this time I was told that they had no idea when power would be back up, and they didn't know why I'd been given a specific time before. The kicker was, this outage was planned, at least as told by one of the three reps I spoke with today. So why didn't I (or my neighbor) receive notice? And if it's planned, then surely you can tell me when it'll be back up, right? Whatever. Finally at 4:30 we got power (air conditioning, more importantly), but not before all of the food in my freezer and refrigerator went bad. Thank God for this morning!

More Foot News

Last year I was contacted by email and phone about allowing Eli's pictures and video in a presentation both in Dr. Ponseti's office and for further presentations. Lehr and I were so happy to be able to offer up any documentation that might help 'the cause'. Just a few months ago, I received another request. Someone interested in using Eli's clubfeet documentation for a Ponseti-related project emailed me with a similar need. This time it was a video producer who was working on a production to spread the knowledge about Dr. Ponseti and his method of treatment. Specifically, he needed some footage of a baby crawling and/or walking in the bar. I did everything I could to help and they ended up using a few seconds of Eli crawling in the bar in their final cut. The end product is a 12 minute presentation (I shrunk it down to ten minutes so I could upload it to YouTube), and Eli's 'cameo' occurs around 4:05 (he is crawling in a striped pj's with the bar on).

A Walking Miracle
The Ponseti Method for Clubfoot Treatment

Another Request

I asked before about a 'name' for the baby (Eli was "the hulk" before he was born), and although you all gave great suggestions, we never found one that really fit for us. My next request has to do with the blogs. Lehr strongly recommends I combine the two blogs, so my readership only has to visit one site to get an update. Although I am hesitant to give up 'ele5', he is probably right (every blue moon it happens), so now I'm brainstorming. I need a name for the site (i.e. Confessions of Eli's Mom, And the Family Grows) and I need an address (i.e. ele5.blogspot.com). I've got a few ideas in my head, but nothing that I've loved just yet. Anyone?

Quick Update

Eli is obsessed with the squirrels that live in our front yard. From what I can tell, there are two of them and they are often spotted hanging out under the big tree. Eli loves to sit on the front step and watch them, even though he only actually sits for a minute or so. He runs out of the garage and straight to the steps as soon as we go outside each day. Today he tried to chase one up a tree; he really tried to climb the tree after the 'curl'.

Day two of no diaper issues: HIP HIP HOORAY!!! Yesterday Eli was 100% cooperative both before and after his nap (the two main problem times), lying down immediately when I told him it was time to change his diaper. I know it won't last forever, but for now I'm loving this shift in behavior.

Lehr is gone for the week which Eli seems to have sensed already. He has been calling "Daddy. Daddy" non-stop all day. He did go to Mothers Morning Out this morning with good results. He played hard on the playground and even has a 'boo-boo' on his forehead to prove it.

Even though Eli has accumulated some other large toys from friends and family, Eli's favorite is still 'Mater. He lovingly calls him "May-May" and asks for him often throughout the day. We'll be riding in the car and Eli will start to ask "May-May?", or we'll be eating breakfast and he'll look around for "May-May". Also, anything Cars related is "May-May" to Eli, so even if he sees a picture of Lightning or Doc, "May-May" is his response.

Buzz Buzz

I gave Eli a bit of a buzz cut last night. His hair had been looking a little sloppy recently due to the weird, uneven way it grows, so he needed a snip anyway. Then Lehr and I decided, why not try something new? We wanted to try a Mohawk, but his hair is too thin and too fine for that yet, so it turned into more of a surfer-cut with the majority buzzed with a #2 clipper and the top left longer. Eli sat really well while I buzzed him, moving his head around a lot but at least sitting down the whole time. After the cut, Lehr gave him a bath and the amount of hair left in the bathtub was unbelievable! Even though we brushed him off before putting him in, a LOT of hair was left over, obviously.

Belly

Eli loves pointing to, rubbing, and kissing my belly while saying 'be-be'. Lehr caught a few shots of his interest this morning.

Another Favorite

I love how much Eli resembles a sponge these days. I know that will come back to haunt me when I shout "Cheese and Crackers!" one day, or when Eli sees me doing something I'd rather him not do, but for now, it's endearing.

- When he sees Lehr or I brush our teeth, he must brush his teeth too. Our rule is Eli has to sit down while he has the toothbrush. Luckily, our new master bathroom has a little step into the tub that makes a perfect sitting spot.

= Yesterday when we were playing in the driveway, I kicked a few pine cones back into the yard. Eli immediately went and found some pine cones and kicked them as well.

- He still picks up random paintbrushes around the house (no, we're still not unpacked which means a state of disarray) and tries to paint the walls, even though the painters have been done for several days.

Eli is still chugging away with the words: grill, door, strawberry (tah-behry), hole, CC, and chair top this week's list. It absolutely makes his day when Daddy lets him go out back and "help" with dinner on the grill.

Update

It's been a long week of painters and other service's quotes and set-up. And, of course, tantrums. I'm getting really scared that what I'm seeing from Eli is a preview of how he'll respond when the baby comes. My parenting question-de-jour is how do you handle the hitting, knocking over things, throwing toys aspect of tantrums? In the immediate sense that is. I mean, do I let Eli run around his room and tear it up, potentially damaging his belongings? I've been attempting to stop this behavior, but nothing has worked so far, and short of just holding him, I can't seem to stop it (he won't stay in a time out when he's this far gone). Anyway, as usual, please email or comment with any suggestions you have!

The camera was packed away until today, so that is my excuse for no new pictures until now. A few new words Eli learned this week: strawberry, dirty, birthday, and gate. If you don't know what you're listening for, all of those except dirty are hard to make out. It's quite amazing how he's picking up new words each day though.

Midwife Appointment

I had my 32-week appointment this morning. The midwife who delivered Eli saw me; another uneventful check-up. (That is a good thing!) She felt my stomach, while Eli watched very intently, and said the baby is head down with his/her back on my left side (I knew that as I can always feel the big kicks just under my right ribs). She also predicted this baby will weigh a little less than Eli at birth if s/he goes to term like he did. There is no cause for low birth weight concern as Eli was 7lb.8oz.: pretty average. All other measurements are falling right in line with those of my pregnancy with Eli at this stage.

Ups & Downs

Considering the majority of the day was spent in the car, Eli had a pretty good day. We closed on the house the morning, and Eli did really well sitting quietly while we signed the papers. (Not that allowing him to use Daddy's cell phone for ten minutes had anything to do with it.) He did protest quite a bit as we finished some errands this evening, but to be honest, I wanted to throw a tantrum too. Atlanta traffic was at it's best (worst?) on our commute home and we spent a lot of time just sitting. Eli's 'tude did not help my mood, however, considering I had to listen to him whine and cry in the backseat for the better part of two hours as we ran said errands.

Despite all that, we had a small breakthrough in the area of patience today. Lehr and I have been working on Eli putting his hands together and having 'self-control' for some time now. We've had varied results: everything from screaming while he clasps his hands to him clasping them happily and waiting while we get whatever it is he is furiously reuquesting. After his breakfast this morning I cleared his dishes and wiped his hands, at which point I normally let him out of his chair to play while I clean up his bib and tray. However, the painters were already here this morning (side note: they are 85% done and already I'm loving the transformation!) and I did not want to let Eli loose to bother them or get in their way. Instead, I took his tray and bib and left him strapped in, asking him to "be patient and count to ten". (Another side note: Eli and I count to ten in English, French and Spanish at least three or four times a day while we are driving. Eli's contribution is repeating after me as I say the numbers, but all of his numbers are "dis" or "do".) So back to the 'story'....I asked him to be patient and I took his tray to the kitchen to quickly wipe it and the bib off. I come back around the corner to where Eli was sitting and his hands were still clasped and he was saying, "do. do." Fewer moments have I been more proud.

We're In!

Many many hours of packing, making car trips, cleaning, rearranging, lifting, stressing later, we are officially in the 'new' house. Now the hard part comes, as I'm quickly realizing. The unpacking and updating of this house is a bit overwhelming at the moment, but I just need to remind myself of the end product. This was rather difficult for me last night and today. I went to the other house to clean up and I took a few moments to enjoy the familiarity and cleanliness. (Speaking of which, the new owners of that house are lucky duckies. I really cleaned it up nicely, but on top of that, the house is only seven years old, so there are no weird smells, no stained carpets, no holes in the walls or carpets, no gouges in the wood floors... It is quite different from how our current house looked when we took possession. And I'm even more fired up about the poor cleaning job now that I've cleaned my house. If I can clean the baseboards and corners, why can't someone who cleans for a living?! But I digress....)

Eli had a great day yesterday as we moved; he spent the majority of it with Cooper and his parents. Apparently he napped for three hours and went to the mall to ride on the mechanical cars, trains, and buses with Cooper. I'm glad he enjoyed his time because it was a huge help to have him cared for so we could devote our full attention to the move.

Almost There!

Movers come in the morning...hold on Eli - you've almost made it!

I'm trying to be optimistic about Eli's situation; hopefully this move is helping him realize he's not going to get even 75% of Mommy and Daddy's attention sometimes. Hopefully this will help prepare him for the baby. On a good day right now, I get four boxes packed while he's awake. That's really not too many. Especially now that we're down to the wire and the boxes are all the last minute stuff. Between that and the constant trips to and from the new house for paint selection, drop off of boxes/stuff, unpacking, etc., Eli is still as confused as ever. I only utilized MMO once this week, but Eli tried to run back to me as soon as I left, so he's still pretty clingy. I've really tried to spend some QT with him this week: we went to the park two days, his gym class one day, and we've had some one-on-one play time at the house. (This is a little difficult considering a lot of his stuff is already moved over.) Unfortunately it's been quite warm this week so any outdoor activity is short lived. Plus it seems like Eli is especially accident prone these days. He is a klutz like me, so he's always running into the walls, or tripping on his own feet. But it seems like each time he's done that this week he's ended up with a big scrape (boo-boo) or a big bruise.

On a positive note, thank you all for your de-smelling suggestions, but I *think* we have overcome the worst of it. I sprayed some Oust odor-eating spray in the cabinets and all around (in the air) on Tuesday, and when I went back yesterday I was not hit in the face with old-house-smell. Hooray!!!

Sibling Love

After Eli's nap today we were playing in his bedroom. In between running around pointing out the train, the book, the crib he came over to me 'mmm'-ing and lifted up the bottom of my shirt to kiss my belly. Then he said "baby". Totally unprompted. Does it get better than that?

The Cat's Meow

It's so interesting to me how certain things 'stick' in Eli's brain and others don't. This has happened with most of sign language; some signs I have been using since he was six months old and he still doesn't duplicate them. While others he will start using after only seeing them once or twice. Today was a breakthrough 'stick' with Eli in the animal sound area. Every day we go through the animals and their sounds, whether it's during an Old McDonald rendition, or and Are You My Mother? call and answer, or just a plain old what-does-the-blank-say Q&A. The obvious animals (cows, dogs, birds, cats) are always included, given how common they are in every day life. Yet to this day Eli cannot/will not say 'dog' or tell you what a dog says. Until today, the same went for cats. (Actually, Eli started saying "key" about two weeks ago whenever he saw kitty cats.) As we were driving to the park this morning we went through the animals and after I said, "Eli, what does the kitty say? It says 'meow'.", he responded in kind. Lehr was super-impressed when he came home and Eli performed on demand. I got a few moments of his new-found sound effect on video; he makes the funniest face when he meows!

31 weeks

and growing...

.

Cars

Eli got his first house-warming gift this week: a plastic car he can ride in or have mom or dad push for him (Thank you, Tyler!!!). This car is like Eli-crack....seriously. He cannot get enough of it! The only downside is the drama that ensues when we must leave the new house and return to our home to sleep at night. But while we are at the house it entertains him to no end. He can put pine straw or rocks in the front compartment, he can ride inside, he can push it. The entertainment value is wonderful! When Eli sees the car he cries out "Caaahhhh!" and then he alternates between that and "tieee - lah" (as he associates this new toy with his buddy, Tyler).

The house is making progress; wall paper came down yesterday and I assume more came down today. We're getting anxious to move the last of our things into the house so we can start living like somewhat normal people again. There is still a smell that I'm trying to tackle in the kitchen; I'm pretty sure it's the old particle-board cabinets and cupboards (that will be replaced). Baking soda, Oust, stick-ups, febreeze....anyone have any more suggestions?

My New Favorite

It's been a while, I know!

Eli's memory astounds me these days. Everything I read tells me that kids this age have a shorter memory, but that may be because I'm reading a lot about how to help Eli 'transition' into being a big brother. These articles are designed to make me feel better, so they contend that Eli has a short memory and he won't remember being the only kid for too long. Either way, his memory is cool to me. First off, when he sees anything in the house that is primarily associated with Lehr or myself, he says "mommy" or "daddy" in correspondence. Not so impressive when it relates to a pair of shoes we wear each day, but pretty cool when it is something we've only used/worn once or twice in his presence. Example: There is a Tupperware of flat bread crackers sitting on our kitchen table right now. (Hey, when you're in the middle of a move, nothing gets put away because you're trying to clean out the cabinets, right?) So over the weekend I ate two crackers in front of Eli. Today at lunch he pointed to the tub and said, "Crah-kar. Mommy." I assure you he was not asking for a cracker as he does not like them. He was telling me, 'those are crackers and mommy eats them.'

What prompted me to label this as a favorite thing was something that happened in the car today. There are two billboards near our house that Eli has taken a likening to. One is a picture of a dog and the other is a (small) picture of a monkey. The monkey one is not on a route we use often, but he has seen it more than once. When he first saw it he was in the back seat chanting "ooooh. eeeeee. ooooh' like a mental patient. Finally I said, "Eli, that is what a monkey says, but there is no monkey in the car." Less than 30 seconds later, I saw the billboard. Great. My son is more observant than me! So over the last three weeks or so, he's seen this sign maybe four times. And the last time was at least a week ago. Today we drove past the street that leads to the sign and Eli pointed out his window (in the correct direction) and shouted "OOOOH. EEEEEEE!" First I scanned the road to see if I could see the sign (negative), or if there was anything else relating to a monkey nearby (nada). I can only speculate that he remembered the sign and (somehow) remembered that it was located down that street.

Donation Corner: Atlanta 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer

I am late, I know, but I have a good excuse, right?

This month I'm highlighting a cause many women feel strongly about: Breast Cancer. Last year I had the wonderful experience of walking in this 2-Day fundraiser for breast cancer awareness/research/treatment, and, with the generous help of friends and family, I was able to raise just over $1000. Unfortunately this year I will not be able to participate considering baby #2 will still be nursing every three hours or so at the time of the walk. This saddens me as I want to be a part of this great cause again, so my hope is to ask for you all to donate (again) even though I'm not walking.

If you did not read my blog about this last year, here is the skinny: the Atlanta 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer is a 30-mile walk which raises money for Atlanta based breast cancer organizations. This covers treatment, research, therapy, and awareness, just to name a few. Also, unlike many of the other 'big' breast cancer walks, over 70% of the donations goes directly into the cause. (I was unaware before last year, but many large charities have overhead with a big price tag and it is not uncommon for 50% of donations to be 'lost' in that shuffle.) I have been following the coverage of the walk preparation through a local radio station, and already there are close to 1000 walkers signed up. This is great news considering it's only May and there are still three months to sign up and participate. So, if you have ever been affected by breast cancer (and sadly, if you haven't, someone you know probably will in your lifetime), please donate. Every donation is appreciated, no matter the size.

Love/Hate

That's how I feel right now. Not about Eli. (I could never use that word about him. Maybe his behavior at times, but not him.) About moving. I am extremely excited about having a bigger house and an actual yard, and getting to 'start over' with decorating is kinda cool. What is NOT cool is the actual act of moving. You may be thinking, "you're pregnant though, so you have a good excuse not to move any boxes or furniture". This is true, but I still have to pack (countless) boxes, and then unpack said boxes. And make decision about paint. And clean. Yes clean. We've only owned one house before, and it was brand new, so the idea of deep cleaning someone else's dirt was somewhat foreign to me. This time around it's a very familiar concept. After Lehr and some friends graciously moved the majority of our boxes to the house today I took some supplies and went over to work on paint selection and the kitchen. Had I realized what I was getting myself into, I'd have thought twice before offering to do this so willingly. When we went to the closing last week, the previous owner told us she had hired a cleaning service to come in on Friday, which prompted me to cancel the service I'd already set up. I really hope she didn't pay too much. And by too much I mean I hope she didn't pay anything. Either that or I wish I had the name of the service so I could 'rate' them on kudzu. Half of the cabinets I opened had spiderwebs somewhere in them (These are 30-year old DEEP cabinets...no way anyone stored anything at the very back.), every cabinet door had dirt or stains on them, and when you turn on the lights, cobwebs are in most corners. Every time I'd open up a cabinet in the kitchen I'd see a spot and think it was another stain. But low and behold, after a few swiped with my sponge it would come off. Everything from last week's coffee drips to last year's spaghetti sauce. No respectable cleaning service could claim to have even attempted a clean. This means I was only able to unpack about eight boxes in the kitchen and I'll have to go back each night this week to tackle a few other rooms (all bedroom closets have plastic closet 'systems' which have drawers that need to be wiped out at the very least).

On an Eli note, he is so confused (though you'd never guess from the photo). He likes the new house, but his world is turned upside down right now and he's not sure how to make sense of it all. In fact, Saturday after his nap he and I stayed upstairs (in the house he knows) because every ten minutes or so he would go back to his crib and cry/request his blanket. He was happiest in his safety zone. This confirms our choice to leave his room as much in-place as possible until we have to move it. Even though I could use some time at the house this week unpacking and cleaning, I think I'll spend the time loving on Eli and doing non-house things, to help balance out the chaos.

Eli's Tomatoes

Slacker...I know. Here is the latest picture, though it hasn't changed much (week 8):

Office Space

Eli and I went to my old office after Little Gym this morning for a baby shower. (One of my former co-workers is due in a month.) At first Eli was a little shy, mainly due to the large amount of unfamiliar people, but he warmed up pretty quickly. At one point he went exploring through the office without me (supervised of course), and came back with a few presents. It appears Eli already has a love for xeroxing body parts.

Random Update

Eli has resumed his clingi-ness and a slight mommy-preference in the last week or so. Three times recently he's cried when I've dropped him off at church or MMO. They all assure me he's fine after a few minutes, but now that he is so mobile and expressive, it breaks my heart to see him reaching out for me as I walk away. We're halfway through the constant shuffling around of Eli though; we closed on the 'new' house today, so only a week left until we're officially in and life can start to resemble some type of normal again!

We're still battling the diaper most of the time, but I'm back in the mode of just working through it without giving it much thought. Also, for the first time ever Eli has started to fight bedtime a little. Nothing horrible, but once we start to put the shoes on, he realizes what's about to happen and protests. This seems so odd to me considering most days he signs sleep and runs to his crib, basically asking for nap time. Go figure.

Meet the Doula

We met our doula tonight, mainly to 'check-in' before things get too close to the end. The one we used last time around is taking some time off, so we hired her partner this time. The meeting went great and everything is a go. Eli was a little stand-off-ish at first, but given the constant state of change in his life right now, that was to be expected.