Only 5 attempts...

Relaxed in the tub...6 weeks

he is getting his brother's chubby cheeks

This is how Eli wanted to be held last night, snuggled in his wrap but just about breaking his neck to look at the fan. I tried to lay him on the bed so he could easily watch it but he screamed...what a silly boy. he did this for at least 15 minutes.

Wes texted me this picture the other day when they were out shopping. When he got home he said, "I don't know why that boy decides he needs to go poopey every time I have him by myself in public!'  As I told him, hate that I missed it.

Watching - what else - but the fan

Smiling...at the fan

Sitting on his throne while we ate supper...this lasted for all of 2 minutes. Then he realized I wasn't holding him and freaked out.

Wild man stuffing his face

Holding hands while watching morning cartoons

I must say, it offends me just a little that he smiles and "talks" to the fan all day and will give me a grin one out of every 10 tries. I don't think the fan gets up and feeds him in the wee hours of the night, every night, or has even once offered to change his diaper...

Best friends, jay and truman!

We are going to be so sad when they leave this summer, poor Jay won't understand why we don't see them anymore, we have played with Hannah and Truman almost every week since we moved here.

This is my 5th attempt at the blog today so maybe I can finish this time. I have learned to treasure those days that go smoothly since they come around once every other week or so. Today I woke up (well didn't really wake up since Eli had me up already from about 3am) but, after a large cup of coffee, found myself alert enough to get a few things done. That happens only about once a week these days, thanks to my severe sleep-deprived state, so when I feel the least bit energetic I try to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, Eli did not feel the same way and completely monopolized my morning. Jay was in a good mood this morning and played happily by himself while I rocked, feed, and bounced Eli around the house again and again, but, understandably so, had enough by lunch time and drastically changed his tone. So my productive morning wishes were shot down and now I have lost whatever energy I thought I had so I guess I will just try again tomorrow. :) 

Eli is getting chubby...not quite like Jay did, but still, I bet I am going to be surprised by how much he has gained when I take him for his 2 month check up next week. Lord knows he eats enough...he better be growing!  I have made it a personal goal to get him to smile at me more than the fan this week...he will love me more, dangit!  I will keep you posted on that competition.

Jay has actually been a little better with the "attitude" issue I talked about last week. Maybe he heard I was in the market for a boarding school??  Or maybe it was the hundredth spanking he received??  The main topic of his scoldings are usually about "talking back" and he is learning to at least whisper his objections instead of yelling them. I really don't think that he has yet to understand why he can't talk back since, in his world, we talk back to him all day long too and we don't ever have to go to time out. Because, you know, we are all equal in this house, according to Jay, at least.

Wes and I talk about how old he is getting all the time now. He is becoming a little person, no longer a toddler, and constantly surprises us by how quickly he learns things. I cannot believe he will be 3 in less than a month!   We love the fact that we can explain things to him now and him actually understand us. It is so fun to have conversations with him...a perfect balance of innocence and curiosity...and to watch his little mind work to solve problems. Sometimes I just sit and watch him and think, "when did he grow up? I didn't even notice he was getting so old."  It really does seem like it was overnight.

Speaking of his little mind working...he isn't old enough to understand what not to say in public and continues to embarrass us  at every outing. Wes and Jay went to the store the other day (the same trip with Jay on the potty) and Wes told me he almost died when Jay saw a dwarf and exclaimed proudly, "Daddy! I found a baby-man!  Look I found a baby-man!"  Again, so sad I missed that one!

Pictures of our zoo day this past weekend...notice there are no picture of animals....unless you count our little monkey

At the zoo...Jay would rather climb on rocks than watch the penguins

"Jay, come on, we can climb on rocks at home"

We walked him over to the birds and, after 30seconds, made a break for it and sprinted back to the rocks--because they are really why we pay for a zoo membership every year

I felt right at home when we were in the kangaroo walk-a-bout with my little "joey" in his pouch

At the aquarium Jay was more excited about the "helicopter" (camera) than the fish

And preferred the stairs over the sea turtles

Napping while jay played

Because you know he wanted to spend more time on the playground than with the animals

This is what he looks like when he says, "cheese"...not really the smile I was aiming for

After the slide we had to ride the carousel...fake animals are much more fun than the real ones, apparently

Walking out of the gorilla room after Jay spent the whole time playing with the coin wheel

 

 

I thought they were so cute in their matching outfits that day

All smiles this week!

Every evening from 5 to about 8 I have to put Eli in the Moby Wrap so I can get something done. This is an amazing invention...I cannot go grocery shopping or to church without it either...since Eli refuses to sleep in his car seat like a normal baby.

Talking to himself in the mirror while hammering  ???

Whatever keeps him out of my hair, i guess

Telling me about his hammer

What a clown

Jay loves playing MarioKart with Wes

Very serious activity

Watching his toys while Daddy and Jay play video games

I left Jay to dress himself that day....this was the result. At least he had his underwear on straight

Shooting me... every mother's dream

Eli started smiling this week!!!  He does it the most on the changing table so I tried to catch them on camera.

He also "talks" to the bottom of the shelves in his room....

Cute Cute Cute!

"Take a picture of me smiling too, mama!"

What a look!

I know...the amount of pictures are obsessive....I can't help it, I am biased.

Still talking, oh no, do we have another motor mouth?!

"Awhhhww!"

I told you I was obsessive about this

Notice his cheeks are getting chubby!

We bought all new toys for him to look at and this is what he loves most!

One last grin in case you didn't get enough. :)

Holding baby brother.

 

Rocking baby brother....which turned out to be hazardous for poor eli since Jay has no concept of "rock him gently"

Well it's a good thing Eli decided to smile this week or I wouldn't have any pictures!  It is so fun to see him changing every day. None of the pictures really caught a big smile but, believe me, it is the cutest smile in the world. :)  And poor Jay sees us make a big deal of Eli and tries so hard to get us just as excited about his smile too. We have been busy this week...well, let me rephrase that...we have been doing the three same things over and over this week (eating, sleeping, pooping) with little time for anything else. Wes has actually been busy though, on call this weekend and long weekdays. At least one of us is being productive.

I was telling Kurt tonight that I was scared I would be bored with a newborn again. Since Jay became a toddler, I have thought newborns were so boring, they don't do anything but sleep and cry. And I worried that my next baby would be neglected because I just wouldn't get as excited about their little milestones. But I am just as excited about him as I was Jay, I get all giddy every time he does anything new and look at him literally all day. But this time we get to share it with Jay too, and that is so sweet, since Jay gets just as excited. Several times a day he comes up to me and says, "I love my baby Eli." And all of Eli's little noises make Jay laugh harder than I do. It is so amazing to see how much Jay loves him. Even though it was only a little over 6 weeks ago, I have a hard time remembering us without him. He instantly became apart of us and the blessing he is to each of us is indescribable.

The honeymoon is over

I wonder why Eli always has a dreadful look on his face when Jay is holding him??

Fun with the trains!

This is how Wes and I eat supper now...sweet boy is not sweet unless he is sitting with us at the table

Eli was fussy in every position except this one the other night

Our little bald burrito

Well this week has been filled with unsuccessful trips to the store, several meltdowns of unknown origins, and endless amounts of bodily fluid. How a tiny baby can create so much poop is still beyond me. And if Eli's poop wasn't enough Jay has decided to start pooping in his pull up after naptime. And that is not fun to clean up!  Add that to the pee, throw-up, and snot and we have ourselves a disgusting little set-up. 

Now for updates:

Eli is 5 weeks, 2 days old. I am guessing he is around 8lbs now and is growing like a weed. He is awake more, loves to be held (more like demands to be held), and eats like a pig. While he is still a pretty content baby, I have been reminded this week why I put off having another baby for so long. Every little errand we had this week turned out to be a huge deal and didn't actually occur until hours after I had originally planned it to. That three hour feeding schedule is ridiculous....and leaves no room for error. Eli hates his carseat...immediately when we put him in it he screams like someone is killing him. Sometimes he gives up and goes on to sleep, sometimes he lets us have it the entire trip. Jay was never a big fan of the carseat but would tolerate it for a little while, Eli apparently has a tremendous grudge against that little contraption. Oh how I long for the chance to go back to the day when parents just held their children while they drove....is my child's safety really a priority? 

There were a few days when I cannot even tell you one productive thing I accomplished...unless keeping both boys alive counts...but seriously, I don't know where the days go by the time I get everyone (don't forget about Jake and Kitty!) fed, bathed, clothed, and then fed, cleaned up, and clothed again at least 5 times. And as I struggle to get through the day I think, "why is this so hard, I only have  two kids, millions of people do this every day, having two children is not exactly brain surgery." And then as soon as I am about to give up, my sweet Eli looks at me with those adorable eyes and makes the funniest face I've ever seen...and I just laugh and start over again.

Jay has been giving us a run for the money lately. I knew this phase was coming, several of my friends warned me about the 3 year old rebellion, I just thought my strong will would overcome it. Ha! Never underestimate the mind of a child, especially one who knows he is in charge. Yesterday three different people stopped us in Lowes to say, "don't worry, it's just a phase, you just have to get through it." as we tried to force Jay to act civilized while we shopped. We cannot tell him to do (or not do) anything without a full-fledged argument including, but not limited to, "don't tell me no!  but I need to! no, i won't go to time out, soldiers don't go to time out!, don't say that to me!, and you don't tell me that, don't tell me what to do!"  How do you explain to a stubborn toddler the level of authority while he is simultaneously proclaiming his rights, especially when there is no form of punishment that will phase him. If you hear of any boarding schools around, please let me know. 

As if the boys' hadn't already worn me down this week Jay pulled an embarrassing little number yesterday when we walked past a lady who fell in the parking lot at the store. They were waiting for an ambulance to come and some firemen were with her. Jay yells as we are walking by, "Mom! That lady died! Look mom, somebody died right there!!" I grabbed him as fast as I could and told him to shut his mouth. On the way home Jay kept asking questions about how the lady died. We both insisted that she didn't die, she just fell down. So he said a raccoon must have tripped her and he would just go shoot that raccoon for her. How does he come up with this stuff??

A few videos since I didn't take many pictures this week.