We gotta roller!

He may be a *little* behind ... but hey, this guy has got a lot of extra weight to move! :)

Dave kept telling me that Eli was so close to rolling from his back to his belly. But I read over and over that they will start by rolling from their bellies to their back, so I didn't believe him. The other day we were playing on the floor and he rolled to his side and started kicking his leg to push himself! I grabbed the video camera and caught it all on film! He was so proud of himself! He hasn't stopped since! Now we are working on him rolling belly to back :)

Trip to WA!

We waited four months before we made the trek to Seattle to show Eli off to our family. I decided to wait this long because of how bad the flu season was this year. I was warned by our pediatrician that we should at least wait 3 months prior to taking him on a plane (really anywhere!). And being a new mom, I wasn't going to not listen! I was so excited, yet so overly nervous about how he would do on a plane.

We decided to fly out of Chicago instead of Cedar Rapids (which we typically do) because it was cheaper and we also wanted to minimize Eli's fly time. If we flew out of Cedar Rapids, there would be a layover/2nd flight and we didn't want to do that. Eli did so well on the drive to Chicago. It was really the last 20 minutes that he started to melt down because he just wanted to be out of the car. Luckily we got to the airport and to our gate with an hour to spare to find that our flight had been delayed. We can count on at least one of our flights being delayed with any plane trip we make from Iowa to WA. Eli was having a hard time. I knew that he was exhausted and hungry. I had to make the decision of nursing now (about 5 minutes to boarding) or wait until we got on the plane. I decided to wait until we got on the plane so that he could fall asleep and hopefully sleep for a good portion of the flight. I also thought that because we had a small child that we would be able to board first. To my dismay, we were NOT able to board first. Instead, we were the LAST to board. Eli was sooooo HANGRY at this point. Who could blame him? He was SCREAMING as we walked down the aisle to our seat. Any every parent knows that when your child is hangry, they have to calm down first before they accept food from you. So I sat in my airplane seat, with my nursing cover, a poor twenty-something boy on my other side staring up so that it was very clear he was not looking my way while I wrestled with my screaming baby to try to get him to nurse. Luckily about 10 minutes of that he calmed down enough to start eating. He slept the rest of the flight. Haha. THANK HEAVENS.

 Poor exhausted baby!

We flew to Las Vegas before we went to Washington. David's uncle owns a dental practice in Las Vegas and we are planning on going there to work for him after Dave graduates. This trip was necessary because I needed to know if I could see myself living in Las Vegas. At first I was extremely hesitant and frankly, didn't want to even entertain the idea of living away from family at all let alone in Las Vegas. Though, after the visit, I found myself at ease with the idea of living in Las Vegas. There is endless entertainment, always cheap and quick flights to Seattle, and it is an amazing opportunity for David. 

The flight to Seattle was actually one of the reasons I felt at ease with the decision. It was so quick and so easy!! Eli did amazing!

Our trip was so nice and I was so grateful that Eli didn't get sick and did really well during the whole trip. Dave had only one week to spend before he had to get back to school and I decided to stay an extra week and a half. It was so fun to spend time with my sisters and my parents. Everybody couldn't get enough of how big Eli had gotten (really, how much weight he gained haha!)

Ryann was obsessed with Eli!! She was such a great cousin! It was so cute!!

Grandpa making Eli giggle!

The flight home by myself with Eli was absolutely terrible. It started out really positive, too! I knew that Eli had a bought of diarrhea, but I was really hoping that it would only mean a few poopy diapers and that was it. In fact, right before I even got into the TSA line Eli had a stinker. That was number 1. I thought this meant he possibly would be fine for the whole day. Oh boy was I mistaken. I smelled another one before we got on the plane. That was number 2. Then I was seated all the way in the back of the plane with 2 guys on my left and 3 guys on my right. I was hoping I would be seated next to some ladies to make the whole breastfeeding on a plane easier. That was not in the cards! As soon as we started to taxi I smelled stinky number 3! Even worse, I FELT it. He blew out. And there was nothing I could do about it for at least another 20 minutes. Worst thing? He fell asleep nursing as we ascended. SO, I had to wake him up and go change him. (PS, the changing table in the lavatory is terrible). After I changed him, he was upset (overly tired) and didn't want to nurse anymore so I didn't have a way for him to fall asleep. I wrestled with him for 20 minutes before he decided to nurse again to fall asleep. AND THEN! HE BLEW OUT AGAIN!!!!!! Luckily Eli had been sleeping for 2ish hours at this point (flight was 4 hours). So, went to change his 4th poopy diaper and change him a 2nd time. He did fine the rest of the flight. Until we landed. and NO joke. BLOW OUT NUMBER 3 and POOPY DIAPER 4. I was such a mess at this point. This was his last change of clothes and I was running out of diapers. I got out of the plane and found that my flight was delayed by two hours. I called dave just sobbing because I didn't know what to do. I was out of clothes, all of his blankets had poo on them, and I had just a few diapers left. (BTW, he pooped 2 more times after this.) Luckily I went to customer service and they took pity on a sobbing new mother and got me on an (somewhat) earlier flight to Cedar Rapids (20 minutes away from home) instead of my original destination, Moline (1 hour away from home). 

Well, when all is said and done, I am happy that Eli was really a trooper throughout the travel. He could have been REALLY fussy because of his diarrhea but he was really pleasant the whole time!

Smiles!

The moment that Eli first smiled because of something I did will always be a cherished memory! It is amazing the feeling that you get when your little one smiles back at you! Here are some of my favorite pictures of my favorite little guy smiling!

Christmas!

This year Christmas was very different than what we are used to! We usually spend Christmas with our families in WA, but because Eli was only 5 weeks old we stayed in Iowa and had our first Christmas alone. It was really fun! Dave and I decided to give each other our stockings on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas morning, which was a fun twist that we are going to continue!

I also had to snap a picture of Dave assembling Eli's Christmas gift on Christmas Eve. I figured that this was the first Christmas's of many in which he will be busy assembling a gift the night before!

1-2 Months

Here is Dave with our two babies! I can't even believe Eli was that small!

First baths are rough

First bottle! I was so worried that he was going to love the bottle so much that he wouldn't want to nurse anymore. 5 months later, Eli tolerates the bottle but would MUCH rather nurse! 

Still not loving the bath! :) 

Waving "hi" to Dad while he is at school!

 Truthfully, the first 1-2 months were so wonderful but oh so rough. They talk about mommy blues, and they are a very real thing. With all the extra hormones that are racing through your body, you just aren't your real self. That, added with this overwhelming love for this tiny human that you are so scared something bad is going to happen to and it is just an emotional roller coaster. Luckily, I had my mom there to help me through!

My First Half!

The actual event was more than a year ago, but since I am trying to go back and post some things that has happened in the past 2 years... this would be one of them!

I have been wanting to do a half marathon for a really long time. Ever since I started running as a hobby fish years ago, I kept putting it off because I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to do it the way I wanted. Really, I just didn't want to walk any portion. My friend Kelly (who is currently living in Illinois while her husband attends Dental School) and I were casually chatting about the races that she had signed up for and whether or not she wanted to do a half marathon. She quickly responded with YES. She said there was a half marathon close to her house in September and that we should do it. So we did!! I signed up for it in May, which gave me the perfect amount of time to train. Though, I didn't need to train too much more because my mileage was already pretty high at that point.

Of course I didn't sleep at all the night before and then the morning was full of the nervous butterflies that made you sick to your stomach.

As soon as we started the race I just felt like I was flying. It is much more fun to run alongside a ton of people then alone in your house. Haha. The adrenaline kicked in from the very start and it was one of the best feelings in the world!

David asked around what time he should be at the finish line to meet me. I had no idea what time to give him. I had never run 13 miles straight before. The most I had run was 11, but that was on a treadmill with no incline! I told him that I would like to do it in 2 hours so, be there about 10 minutes before that. I didn't have a watch on while I ran so I had no idea what time it was throughout. I could sense though that I was going somewhat fast since I was passing so many people.

By miles 11 and 12, my legs were SO sore. I had never felt that sensation before where your legs start hurting from running before you even end (usually I feel it the next day).

I got to the end and I kept looking for Dave, and I couldn't find him. As I crossed the finish line I looked at the time and I ended at 1 hour 46 minutes. He wasn't even there yet!

Dave felt so bad he wasn't there to cheer me to the finish line, but truthfully, I liked that he wasn't there. It was a perfect way to end the half. As silly as it sounds, I cried out of happiness alone surrounded by so many people (sheesh, you would think that I ran a full marathon or something with how emotional I was!). But, it was a personal goal that I did all by myself, and to beat Dave to the finish line was really awesome!

I felt so bad because Kelly had injured her knee early on in the race and had to finish 13 miles with excruciating pain in her knee. But she did it!!!

Now I can't wait to do another one! The next time I hope Dave will run alongside me. But shoot, having a baby totally got me out of shape!

P.S. I didn't walk!! 

A little help!

Living so far away from family sure is the pits sometimes. But it does have its perks too! My mom was so sweet that she came to spend 3 solid weeks here with me in the cold and miserable Iowa winter. She flew on thanksgiving day (a 12+ hour day of travel) just so that she could make sure that I survived as a new mom while Dave was trying to survive his 3rd year of Dental School superblock rotation. I can't even express how grateful I am that she did this. Not only will it be a sweet memory that I will always cherish, but those "mommy blues" that they talk about are OH so for real.

She helped with dinner, gave me much needed rest, and taught me tricks on how to soothe a screaming baby that still work! Who knew that a running faucet would be so mesmerizing??

While she was here we tried to do a little sight seeing. We took her to the Dental School and also to go see Captain Kirk's future birthplace in Riverside, IA!

I'm pretty sure the above picture was my mom's favorite part of the Star Trek museum. :)