Eli's 9 Month Dr Appt Results

Eli had his 9 month appointment with the pediatrician this morning.  He's doing great!  It took a little while but he is bulking up and growing like crazy.  And he's perfectly on time with all his developments (something I had worried about prior to his surgery 3 months ago).  :)  According to the doctor's office Eli is:

19.8 pounds - 33-34%

28.3 inches - 47%

WOW!  Considering he was down to the 0% in weight and under 20% in height, that's awesome!

And he's growing lots of hair!  At least lots more than he used to have.  ;)

LOVE this kid!!!

Primary Music Leader

 I was just called to be the new Primary Music Leader.  (Primary is the children's Sunday School, ages 3-11)  I've had a crazy mix of emotions about this new adventure, but after having a week to process it and let go of my previous calling as a youth Sunday School teacher I'm feeling excited!  Children are so forgiving, way more than adults (but not that adults aren't).  The last music leader moved out of the ward, but thankfully stuck around to finish out the Primary Program.  I'm glad I get to start with a clean slate!

I rarely attended Primary growing up, but our first calling after Adam and I got married was to teach a Primary class.  We did that for a year, and I had an awesome music leader model!  She was called into that calling right after we moved in, and she did a GREAT job, so I can too, right?  Even with my lack of Primary attendance I still know a bunch of the Primary songs, but I'll definitely be learning more!

I'm taking solace in the fact that I have an extra week to prepare because General Conference is this next weekend, and I also got to sit in during Primary last Sunday and observed.  We have an awesome Primary Presidency, I'm looking forward to learning from them!  And out stake is having their annual auxiliary training this month.  I couldn't have been called to this new position at a better time!

I'm looking forward to all the fun things I'm going to get to do with the children in our ward.  I hope I can learn all their names quickly!  We've only been in the ward for a year and we're still trying to learn who everyone is.  But I hope they will be able to learn through the music about how Heavenly Father loves them, that Jesus Christ is their Savior, that we need to be good so we can be worthy to have the Holy Ghost with us, and that we can be happy by living the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I hope I will be able to inspire them and invite the Spirit so they can feel the love our Father in Heaven has for them and learn by the Spirit, so they can feel real happiness!

I'm humbled by this call to serve, and I'm grateful for this opportunity.  I know I will grow right along with these amazing children.

Adam pointed out how fun it will be for Eli when he gets to Primary for his mom to be the music leader.  That's only in about 2 years, so it's possible!  In my married life I have yet to have a calling for over a year.  But we're not going anywhere for a while so maybe this will be the one to set the new record!


P.S. (10:45pm)

I got set apart tonight.  Bishop Alexander talked to us for a few minutes before.  It's his opinion that the music in Primary is one of the most important things.  He started to get choked up when he told me they (the bishopric) are grateful that I am in the ward (we just moved in last year).  And he said they felt strongly that I should be the one to take this place.  I don't know how deep this planning has been on Heavenly Father's part, if this is one reason why we were drawn to buy a house in this location (the past music leader just bought a house out of the ward), or maybe every good choice we've made has just led to more blessings...

The main points in Bishop's blessing tonight were:

• put family first
• be organized
• you've been blessed with talents to bless others

I definitely received some simple yet profound answers to recent prayers and some needed guidance.  I'm grateful for the priesthood and for those who serve under it's direction, and under the direction of Jesus Christ, who is the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He lives!

9 Months! (Baby Eli)

Here we are at 9 months!!!  Eli has been outside of my tummy for as long as he was inside...  Approximately.  It goes by so fast!  It's so crazy.  I know I say that every month, but it's always so true!  Here's what he's been up to in the last month:

• Sitting up.  He sits unsupported like a champ!  He has learned how to balance while sitting.  He used to start falling and then fall, but now he starts falling and corrects himself.  He still falls over sometimes though.  Usually when he's distracted by playing with something or reaching for something.
• Pulling up/Standing.  He always wants to be standing!  He even tries to stand up in the bath tub, constantly!  He loooooves to be standing.  And he's so smart -- He'll be sitting next to us and will turn around and grab our hands and start pulling himself up when he wants to stand.  :)  It's hard to get things done sometimes because he only wants to be standing, for which he needs supervision of course.  :)  In the last couple days have witnessed him pull himself all the way up from sitting to standing all by himself, twice!!
• Walking.  He loooooves to walk too!  He'll walk around and around the coffee table.  He'll walk around one of our cushion chairs.  And he's brave -- He'll be walking across the coffee table and then turn around and grab onto the couch behind him, or one of us or something.  He'll even let go of us when we're supporting him while he's walking to grab something else.  We like to hold each of his hands and get him to walk places -- to Mommy, to Daddy, to his room...  It's fun, and he's gotten really good at it!  
• Slapping.  And he'll slap things too.  It's so cute!  Walk, walk, slap, slap, slap, walk, walk...  He does that in his crib with the changing table that's attached, he does it on the piano, he slaps the entertainment center when he crawls up to it, and the coffee table of course.  And Eli will give Adam high-five's too.  :)
• Bouncing.  He bounces a lot in his exersaucer and when we're holding him.  He definitely thinks it's fun!
• 2 naps a day.  He's on a flexible schedule, has been for a couple months now, and it's awesome.  So much better than the 2 hours on, 2 hours off thing I tried doing for a while (when he was younger).  I'm glad he is able to handle this routine, it's really helpful for me!  He gets up at ~7am, has a nap at ~10am and ~3pm, and goes to bed at ~7:30pm.  And he sleeps through the night!  He's a champ.  For reals.
• Loves bath time!  He LOOOOOVES the bath!  The bathroom is right across from his room, and every time he sees it he kicks and flaps his arms and gets really excited!  When he's sad I'll take him into the bathroom and he is instantly happy.  But when I turn on the water to start the bath, he goes crazy!!  And squeals!  And I've been letting him stand next to the tub while it fills up for fun.  He loves it.
• Crawling.  Just in the last week or two Eli has finally been making forward progress with crawling!!  He got really good at holding himself up on his hands, and then turning himself around, and then he would reach out for things and then would end up rolling over.  He used to roll everywhere and it was so cute.  But he's crawling now!  And it's so cute too!  We're so proud of him!  He does a half-army crawl thing.  He army crawls with his left arm (bent, using his elbow to push himself), and reaches out with his right hand, with his tummy dragging on the floor.  But I think he'll be walking unsupported before he starts hands and knees crawling.  Guess we'll see!
• Poop.  Haha, just need to mention that he has regular bowel movements pretty much at the same time every day -- Usually right before or after his morning nap.  It's helpful to know!
• Tongue. He started feeling around his mouth with his tongue lately, it's cute watching him try to learn how to use it.
• Netflix.  He gets really excited when the red Netflix loading screen comes on the tv.
• Paper/Books.  He loves paper!  He will endlessly try to get a hold of anything with paper in it.  Hymn books at church or on the piano, books when we read to him, any paper we ever are holding near him...  I've been letting him play with one of his baby books (one of those with the stiff cardboard pages) lately and he loves it, he'll just play and play and play with it.
• Mirrors.  He still has fun looking at himself and Mommy and Daddy in the mirror.
• Head turn.  When he meets new people or when people talk to him who he doesn't recognize, he cocks his head to the side like he's shy and/or trying to figure them out first before he gets too friendly.  It's silly, but that's his thing!
• Friendly/Easy going.  He's really easy going and doesn't mind being passed around to other people.  He's friendly with anyone and just likes to play!
• Social.  He's become aware of other "little people" -- It's cute and fun watching him interact with other kids, which he doesn't get to do a lot of.  I have realized this month that it's time to get him out and socializing!
• Talking/Squealing.  He is exploring all the different sounds he can make.  He's making "cuh-cuh-cuh" sounds, and "guh-guh-guh" sounds in addition to his "buh-buh-buh" sounds.  Since he's been doing that I'll sing the ABC of sounds song ("Apple, apple, ah-ah-ah...")  He likes it, and I think tries to do some of the sounds back.  He also squeals often.  It's so fun and cute.  Sometimes he'll squeal and I'll do it back, and then he'll do it back to me.  Tonight he got a little scared from the sound of the blender but when I held him while using it he started squealing like he was trying to be as loud as the blender.  And later when Daddy was holding him and I started the blender, he looked over toward the kitchen real fast and started squealing again like he was happy and excited, and like he remembered from earlier.  So cute!!
• Tummy.  Maybe it's because I'm lazy and don't clothe him all the time at home, but he's become more interested in his tummy lately.  He looks down and plays with it, and his diaper too!  So silly!
• Cups/Bottles.  He loves cups and bottles!  He loves to try to drink from them, and also to chew on the bottom of them.
• Garbage/Kitchen items.  He will play with just about anything.  I don't know why people even buy any toys for their children!  He'll stay entertained by these things for a while.  Some include: empty tissue boxes, empty toilet paper rolls, crunchy sounding bags, cardboard boxes, whisk, cups, cookie cutters, even his Bumbo chair.  He also likes to roll around and play under the coffee table.
• Eating.  He eats like a champ!  He's eaten tons of new foods now.  I've even started making my own baby food.  It's a money saver for sure!  And who knows what they really have to put in baby food on the shelf at the store to make it last a whole year before it goes bad?!  Right now Eli will eat about 15-30 minutes after he wakes up -- he'll start with a bowl of something solid, oatmeal mixed with fruit in the morning, and in the afternoon and evening he'll have either veggies or fruit.  Then about an hour or so after that he'll have an 8 oz bottle of formula.  Occasionally he'll have more.  I feel like this is going really well and we've got it down!  (But I'm sure it will be changing soon...)
• Electronics.  This kid loves electronics.  He goes for my laptop even when it's closed.  He'll also go after the Xbox remotes, the tv remotes, our phones, any cords, DVD boxes, the entertainment center, etc!  I was telling Adam the other day that I think kids these days were taught how to use technology in the pre-earth life.  Like for reals!  They are so smart!
• Teething.  Boy is this boy teething!  He doesn't have any teeth to show for it yet.  But just in the last week or so he's started making these faces like his mouth hurts.  And he's been more fussy than usual.  And he sometimes sleeps longer than usual.  Poor kid.  I wish he didn't have to hurt so much!  But I'm not sure what we're going to do when he has teeth...  I don't know how to have a baby with teeth!  It's amazing how there is always something new to learn.  Once you get familiar and comfortable, another curve ball gets thrown your way!  Welcome to parenting.  :)

I love our little miracle!!!  :)