Eli 7 months

Dear Eli–

At 7 months, you have amazed us all. Here are some stats:

• You eat 4 times a day.
• When you see your bottle, you scream. Loudly. So we hide it from you until the very last second.
• You have solids about twice a day, but at least once.
• You have started finger foods! Watching you eat a big banana or avocado makes my heart melt.
• In the last week, you have started to crawl.
• You have 6.5 teeth– 3 on bottom, and 3.5 on top.
• You no longer want your Nuk–this makes me ridiculously sad! And also annoyed… when you were fussy in the past, I could just pop in your Nuk. Now, you just stay fussy and get more mad when I try to encourage the Nuk.
• Both Daddy and I have heard you say DaDa. And we turned to mush.
• Absolutely in L.O.V.E. with your brothers. They can do no wrong. Even when they poke your eyes.
• You’re pretty bald, but the little hair you do have is a light brown. My brown-haired, blue-eyed little boy.
• In an average week, I get told you look like a Cabbage Patch Doll at least once.

I’m not going to lie… Seeing you become more of a big boy and less of a baby makes me incredibly sad. I didn’t think the baby stage would end so soon! With your brothers, I wanted nothing more than for them to crawl, talk, etc… But you can slow down if you want! This time is too precious and since you’re more than likely our last child, I want to savor all of these little moments.

I love these kids

My kids are my everything. After a week’s vacation, all I could think about was getting home to see them.

We had a great vacation– San Antonio was ridiculously nice, and we had a beautiful resort to enjoy. Of course, since we haven’t seen the sun in 2+ years, we got quite the sunburn our first day. Oh well! Boston was awesome too. We ate at one of the most amazing restaurants– the South End Buttery. It has ‘Butter’ in the name– duh, of course it was amazing  Paul graduated from law school at Boston University– CONGRATS PAUL!! It was so fun to see where he has spent the last 3 years. Saturday morning we toured the Sam Adams Brewery and enjoyed some great beer, all by 10:30am! Then we ate at a local restaurant called Doyle’s. Umm… yum. I had clam chowder, Peggy had a lobster roll… we were true Bostonians. It was also great to meet Paul’s boyfriend Chris and his parents. Loved them all! So nice to finally be able to put a face to all the stories

Here’s what we came home to after a week away:

Sam–talking more than ever, walking all over the yard without shoes (when we left he would absolutely not even touch the grass, so this was awesome!), a tan, and a huge smile.

Jack–talking in 3-word sentences, eating a ton, a huge attachment to Auntie, Me-Maw, and Pe-Paw (yep, that’s what he has decided to call my parents. No Grandma or Grandpa for them!).

Eli–brace yourselves… he now has 6.5 teeth, can say DaDa, crawls, and REFUSES HIS NUK. What?! I’m pretty depressed that my baby is no longer a true baby. He refuses to sit still and wants to be moving at all times. If you remember, Jack didn’t crawl until he was 13.5 months and Sam didn’t crawl until he was 16 months. Ridiculous.

Here are some pics that I took before we left…

Mommy and Daddy need a break

I think there comes a time in every parent’s life where they think “If I don’t get a break from my kids ASAP, I’m going to lose it. Run away screaming, lose it.” Thank you Jesus, Adam and I are headed for a vacation in a few days! Saturday morning we are driving to Fargo and staying until early Sunday afternoon (less than 24hrs there!). We’re leaving the kids with my family, and heading to Minneapolis to see a lot of friends! Tuesday morning we fly to San Antonio, TX for a radiology conference (Mommy is lounging by the pool) and Friday morning we leave for Boston to see Paul graduate law school!

I love my children. More than anything in this world. But to be perfectly honest, I’ve been stretched thin lately. It’s hard. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say that.

The twins, especially Jack, have been testing us lately. Absolute full-blown meltdowns, hitting, stealing from each other, hitting Eli… Today Sam slapped Jack across the face for no reason. Like a soap opera slap– that loud and that hard. Know what Jack did? “Oh, ow!” in his adorable voice. I went from wanting to scream at Sam to laughing in 0.2 seconds. Thank God they didn’t see me laughing. Sam got a timeout and behaved a little better after that.

This week we have had at least 2 appointments a day. Twice we had 3 appointments. I am EXHAUSTED. What the hell happened to being a STAY AT HOME mom?! I love that they are so active and learning from their peers and their surroundings… But my house looks like a disaster zone and laundry is no longer put away– clean clothes are in one corner and dirty clothes are piled in another. Hampers? I don’t even know where those are. I think the boys used one as a Lego bin a few days ago and I couldn’t care less.

It takes a village to raise a child, and Lord knows I couldn’t do it without our friends here in Omaha who have become like family. This morning a friend stayed at the hospital after her night shift so she could watch the twins while Eli had a test done (see below)… So sweet! A huge thank you to everyone here– we love you!

Some random health updates:
Jack had his bi-annual heart screen a few weeks ago… Remember that heart murmur/mitral valve regurgitation? He still has it, but thank goodness it isn’t severe enough for medication. In fact, we won’t have to go back for another 3 years!

Sam started occupational therapy at an awesome new place. They are working on sensory processing, fine motor, and touching/playing with foods. He is doing so great!! This week he even tolerated shaving cream and “swam” a goldfish cracker into his mouth (and spit it out)!!!

Eli, yes, Eli… Even he doesn’t escape the health issues. He was screened this morning with a swallow study… We were worried he was aspirating on bottles. He has been coughing and choking on nearly every bottle we’ve given him — we varied the type of bottle, the nipple flow, added rice cereal, you name it… Well, the study showed he wasn’t aspirating (!) so we’re incredibly relieved! I just spoke to his pediatrician, however, and he wants us to follow up with the ENT. Great! So even though he isn’t aspirating, they want to rule out it isn’t something, since it just came out of nowhere (it’s much  more common in newborns and younger infants).