Happy 8 Months Eli

I can't believe my baby is 8 months old already

Such a Big Boy!!

Eli is getting so big. I can't believe that he is almost 8 months old. Where has the time gone. Eli has now graduated to the front of the cart when we go grocery shopping and last night Eli got to take a bath sitting up. (this was probably overdue) Eli did a great job riding in the front of the cart. He just sat there and looked around at everything. He was so smiley.

Eli loved his bath. This is the first time he was able to play in the water. He played with some toy trucks and a ducky in the water. He splashed and splashed and splashed and the entire time he had a huge smile on his face. He would have loved to play longer, but the water was getting cold. Now bath time is fun time :-)

The pictures are a little fuzzy because we are having camera problems, but I had to take pictures

Today was the first day I watched another little one. Kennedy is 10 months old. It was a fun day. Eli really enjoyed having her here. He kept looking at her and smiling. She also gave me a look into the future. She crawls everywhere. I had to use a chair to block off the kitchen because she found the water bowl. It was also a wrestling match to change her diaper. Eli just stays put when I change his diaper. I enjoy that :-)

Fun Day at the Zoo

Today was a great day! Eli and I went to the zoo with my best friend Sam and her 10 month old daughter Sienna. It was so much fun walking around and looking at the animals. I wasn't sure how much Eli would even see, but he loved it. He rode around in his stroller just taking it all in. I think he enjoyed the water animals the most. I could tell he was really watching them. I think they were the easiest to see since we were inside and they were under water. It was very bright and sunny today. I think the heat wore him out. He and Sienna both fell asleep as soon as we left. This was such an awesome day!

Sienna (almost 10 months) Sam, me, Eli (almost 8 months)

Looking at the little sharks :-)

I love my little boy!

Eli watching the big sharks in the tank, he was fascinated!

Of course we need a souvenir!

Fun at Home

Not too much has been going on here this week. We have just been having fun and hanging out at home. Which is good, because this is going to be my last full week to just me and Eli. Starting next week I am going to watching a 10 month girl named Kennedy 3 to 4 times a week. Her family came to visit last night and I think it will be fun. I also think it will be good for Eli to be around other kids. Right now he is pretty spoiled. I don't know how that happened. :-)

"I can't get any water mom!"

Yesterday Tracy came over with Lily and Luke. It was fun. Lily loves to play with Eli and she is so good with him. Eli and Lily played on the floor, Luke slept in his carseat and Tracy and I got to visit.

Luke (almost 2 months) Eli (almost 8 months)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday! We celebrated it yesterday with a family party at Arni's in Lebanon. It was so great to see everyone. There was close to 30 people there. We have such a big family and it keeps gowing. :) Eli was awesome while we were there. He went to everyone. I think the only times I had him was when he needed his diaper changed and when it was time to eat. He also did great while we were eating. He sat in a restaurant high chair for the first time. He looked so small, it was adorable. We had to put Auntie Jackie's bag behind him because he wasn't quite big enough, but it worked and I was able to eat.

Eli and Papa

Eli in the high chair!

Maya and Lily leavng the party, are't they adorable!

Play Time

I love to play with Eli!

Eli really loves to play now. I can just sit him on the floor with some toys and he will play for a long time. It is so great. I love to watch him. He still doesn't care to be laying on the floor. He will roll from tummy to back, but then he is stuck. Now that he knows how to sit up he doesn't want anything to do with tummy time. He is just content to sit and not move.

I love when he makes this face!

Even more than Eli likes to sit, this boy loves to stand. He loves to stand on our laps, he loves to stand on the floor, and now he lovs to stand next to things. He even loves to hold onto my hands and walk around the room. He still has no balance but he loves to walk.

Today Eli learned a new trick. Lately he has been imitating our mouth movements. Mike was holding him on his lap one day while he was eating something and I could tell Eli was concentrating on it and then he started moving his mouth like he was chewing something. It was so cute. Today while Mike was holding him he stuck at out his tongue and then they just kept going back and forth. Eli sure has fun with his daddy.

Naps

It is amazing that how the day goes really depends on how Eli naps. If Eli gets 2 good naps I can get so much done. Not just while he is sleeping, but also while he is awake. If he doesn't nap well he can be a little cranky when he wakes up and I end up just holding him. I am trying to get him into a routine with napping the same time everyday. I feed Eli around 7:30 in the morning and then I try to get him down for a nap around 9:30. A good morning nap would be an hour. Then we can play for a little while til lunch. I feed Eli lunch around 11:30 and then nurse him at 12:30. I have been trying to get him to take an afternoon nap around 1:00. On the days that I have gotten him down for a nap at 1:00 he has slept for 2 hours. It is just hit or miss right now. I have also been having a lot of trouble getting him to go to sleep on his own. He was doing pretty well before the tummy troubles started but while he was having his tummy aches he needed me to rock him to sleep. Now I think he is just used to me rocking him to sleep. He does better a little better going to sleep at night. 3 out of he last 5 nights he has went to sleep on his own, but nap time is a different story. I am hoping that once I get him on a set nap schedule each day it will be easier to lay him down and let him fall asleep on his own. It is just too hard to sit there and let him scream in his crib. I love him way to much to do that.

Sad for Daddy :(

Daddy left for work today a little before 7:00 his morning and Eli was still sleeping. Tonight is his night for class so he isn't home yet. Eli went to bed at 8:00 tonight. I know Mike will be sad that he didn't get to see Eli today. I know that it makes me a little sad for him.

Fun Family Weekend!

We had such a great weekend! On Saturday we went to the Parish Picnic at our church. It was so much fun. Eli just rode around in the stroller taking it all in. It got me very excited for the future. There were so many kids there and they were all having a blast. I know that someday Eli will love to go to the church picnic. Today we went over to Mike's parents house to watch the colts game. Eli showed everyone that he can roll over. This weekend is what family is all about. I love it.

Grandma gave Eli her water bottle and he was set. That is his favorite toy!

Eli and cousin Madeleine at the church picnic.

Eli and Madeleine playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Go Colts!!

I Love All Babies!

Eli is going to get another new cousin. Beth and Ken are expecting little Six Pack in April. I am so excited for them. I can't wait to meet this little baby!

Roly Poly

Eli first rolled over on July 12th, almost 2 months ago. He is now rolling over more and more, and finally last night he rolled over for Daddy for the first time. I can't believe it took this long. Now it is almost instant that he rolls over when I put him on his tummy. We are still working on rolling from back to tummy and I can tell he is getting close, but he isn't that interested in being on his tummy.
Eli also tried something new yesterday. He was sitting on the floor playing with his basketball hoop with daddy while I was folding laundry right next to them. Eli grabbed ahold of the basketball hoop and tried to pull himself up. I think if the basketball hoop could have held him he would have been able to pull himself to his feet. He does love to stand. It is almost impossible to get him to sit after he has been standing.

Finally!!!

Last night Eli slept from 9:00 t0 5:00 this morning, I rocked him for a little bit and he went back to sleep til 8:00 when I had to wake him up. This is such a great improvement. Since we started him on cereal on July 22nd he has been waking 4-5 times a night. He was waking up every 1 1/2 to 2 hours and last night he went 8 hours. I feel like we are finally getting back to normal, and it only took 7 weeks. :-)

Its time to do some catching up

Since our computer troubles I haven't been able to geton here too much so I have been saving some things to blog about.

Last weekend Mike got to take a tour of Conseco Fieldhouse and see where the Pacers play. It was a special tour for less than 400 people so he was pretty excited. He went with is dad and brother in-law Ken. They got to see the locker room, gym where they work out, practice court and more. The best part was that Larry Bird was a speaker there. Mike said they were about 15 feet away from Larry Bird. I would have liked to have been to see it myself. I know how important Larry Bird is to Mike. He wanted to name Eli Larry Bird Reger. While he was there he got something for Eli. There were little basketballs decorating the tables and Mike brought one home for Eli. It is a neat ball. It has a picture of Larry Bird, the coach and the Pacers team. Eli loves it!!

I have been looking for a high chair for Eli for awhile. He had been using the bumbo seat to eat, but now he arches his back while sitting in the bumbo seat so we needed to get him a high chair. We don't have a lot of room for a big high chair so we decided to get him a little booster seat instead. He does great in it. And he looks adorable.

We also decided to work with Eli on drinking from a sippy cup. Now with each meal I give him drinks from his sippy cup. I took the stopper out so he would be able to get water out right away. He took to it immediately. He go a little bit of water in his mouth and started sucking on it. The only thing he still needs to figure out is that he has to tip it up to get water out.

Not only did Eli get a sippy cup and a booster seat, while we were out at Target I found the cutest pair of shoes for Eli. He hasn't been wearing shoes because his feet are too chubby. I had gotten him a pair of sandles for the summer, but they left marks on his feet. His new shoes are really soft and soooooo cute. I love them. Eli wasn't to sure of them. He thought they were new toys.

Grandma stopped by for a visit today and had a special present for Eli. She knows how much Eli loves his taggie blanket so she made him some new ones. She made a bunch and was letting us choose which one we wanted for Eli. It was so cute. I was holding Eli while she was showing us. Each time she laid one on the table Eli would reach for it. He loves these blankies. We ended up and couldn't decide between 2 and when we held them up for Eli he grabbed them both and immediately hugged them. Needless to say, Grandma gave them both to Eli. He is such a lucky boy to be so loved.

I think I found a baby food that Eli doesn't care for. I have been starting a new food on Thursdays and Sundays. We had already had sweet potatoes, prunes, and squash. Today we started peas. I have been giving Eli 1 1/2 jars for lunch and dinner. I gave him the 1/2 jar of sweet potatoes and then switched to the peas. With the first bite he made a funny face and with the second bite he cried. I tried a few more bites and he kept crying. Finally I gave in and gave him some more sweet potatoes. At dinner I decided to try them again. This time I did the peas first. He ate them but I could tell they weren't his favorite.

What a Fun Day!

Today was such a fun day. A friend of mine needed someone to watch her little boy at the last minute so she could substitute teach so I said sure. Kellen will be 1 in a few weeks. He and Eli were very cute together. Kellen isn't crawling yet so both of the boys just sat with the toys. I kept handing the boys new toys and when they would see the toy the other one had they would reach for it. It worked out because they were just constantly switching toys. Or sometimes Kellen would reach for Eli's toy and Eli would reach for Kellen's hair. Kellen has a lot of hair. This was good practice for me because I plan on watching other kids soon.

It has been almost a week now since we have taken Eli off of the cereal. Immediately I could see a difference. Right away he was no longer gassy. Unfortunately he was still waking up at night because he was a little bit constipated. So we started him on prunes this week. All I can say is the prunes worked! We went through 3 outfits today and had 2 baths, and this was with my favorite brand of diapers. Hopefully this means he will sleep better.

We had a near disater this week. On Monday our laptop started acting up. As the day went on it was getting worse. So before it crashed Mike copied everything onto a CD. He then reformatted the laptop and wiped everything off to start over. When he went to put back the files he had saved everything was gone. That meant all of Mike's graduate school work from the past 2 years, all of our pictures, and all of our videos. I wasn't too upset about the pictures because I have uploaded so many pictures onto facebook and I knew I could get those back, but the videos devastated me. Me had videos from bringing Eli home from the hospital, his first bath, his baptism, and random videos from here at home. I couldn't believe they were gone. Luckily Mike knew how important everything was and he spent the next 2 days slaving over the laptop and was actually able to recover a lot. He got some of his work, a lot of pictures, and I think all of our videos. I am so happy we got our videos back. I just want to watch them over and over. Now we have everything backed up so we will never lose it.