11 Months! (Baby Eli)

Eli is 11 months old already!  I say this every month but I just can't believe how the time flies.  But at the same time it's going by at a perfect rate.  I love our silly little boy!  Some things he's up to:

• He loves to close doors, and he's figured out how to open them too.  Doors, cupboards, drawers, anything with knobs!
• Speaking of doors, he loves to go outside, and since Daddy takes him out the front door sometimes, most days if not all he plays over by the front door and slaps it because he knows it can open and that outside is on the other side.  Today I saw him putting his fingers in the crack to try to open it.  He's so smart!
• Also on that note, he likes to slap the windows too.  He plays a lot by the back door which is a sliding glass door (and slaps it) and constantly rolls over on his changing table to slap the window that is right by it.  Sometimes Daddy takes him to the window that faces the street to watch cars go by and he slaps it too.  He likes to go outside and wants to be out there!
• He loves to go over to the piano and reach up and press down on a few of the notes he can reach with one or each hand.  It especially attracts his attention when I'm playing.  It's so cute and so fun!  I love seeing him reach up and play and hear the "dink dink dink" of his piano playing.
• He's learning the art of fake crying!  We're trying to teach him that he doesn't need to cry when he wants something...
• Randomly this month he started giggling like crazy when we would put him in his crib at night along with our wrapping in a blanket and goodnight song rituals.  He immediately starts to roll over so he can reach to the side of the crib to stand up!  It also makes him laugh when we pin him down on his back.  He thinks it's funny!  What a silly kid!  We loved when he would smile when we started singing our goodnight song, but now he just tries to get up like it's a game!
• Literally the first thing he does when we put him down for bed or for a nap is get up.  He instantly rolls over, grabs the side of the crib and stands up.
• He LOVES the bath!  Still!  He is the most talkative when the bath is turned on.  He gets so excited!  He squeals and babbles and wants to run/crawl/whatever quickly over to the tub and play in it.
• We've been going to a swim class still.  He's doing awesome and loves it.  He goes under water like a champ!
• He's also a champ at eating solids!  He eats a variety of foods, even some to chew.  He's doing great!  He even had (a lot of) Thanksgiving dinner!  That was fun.
• And he's gotten pretty good at picking things up and put them in his mouth to eat.  He still drops some on occasion, but he's improved a lot!  We started him with puff snacks, but he's even eating little squares of cheese now!
• He finally caught on to blowing bubbles in swim class (and does it! Sometimes I can see actual bubbles).
• I think because of that he's discovered new noises he can make with his mouth, namely a motorboat sound (or farting sound).  He does that one a lot.  He did it for like a week straight. 
• He also makes a blowing noise by blowing his bottom lip out....  It's cute.
• And he makes a sort of popping noise with his lips.  That one he does a lot recently.  It's sort of his "go-to" noise.
• His also "go-to" noise is a clicking sound, with his tongue on the top of the inside of his mouth.  Kind of like a "tisk-tisk" noise?
• He says "momomom" a lot lately!!  He started doing it again and does it frequently.  We think he actually means "Mom" when he says it...  It just seems like he says it when he wants my attention.  Some of the time at least!
• He really likes playing peek-a-boo.  It makes him giggle a ton!  It's super cute that he plays with us...  A couple times he has walked out from behind something and I'll react and he'll go back behind it (the couch, door frame, wall) and then peek back around with a smile when I react again...  So fun!
• We have a couple normal sized plastic pumpkins and Eli loves to play with them.  He crawls over to one and pushes it across the floor and crawls after it and does it again.
• He loves to be thrown in the air by Daddy!  Well, by Mommy too but Mommy doesn't do it very often because I'm not very strong and he's getting heavy!  Eli will smile and giggle and laugh in the air when Daddy throws him up!  It's so so so cute!
• The other day I sneezed next to Eli and he laughed so hard!  So I proceeded to do a series of fake sneezes, all of which he thought was hysterical and laughed so hard at!  So funny!
• He likes to play the chase game.  It's cute how he'll be walking along the coffee table and sometimes when we're behind him he'll look back at us to see if we're there or coming and I'll say "I'm gonna get you!" and he'll squeal and run away, and look back, and squeal while he runs down the table, etc.
• He has been walking along ALL of our walls.  He can pretty much walk all the way around our living room (and down the hall if we let him!).
• Tables don't stop him because he has learned how to duck. 
• We bought a walker/activity toy thing, which he did NOT want to walk with the first time we showed it to him (he lifted his legs up like a sitting position while Adam held him in place... so funny!).  But a week or two later he was going to it on his own and walking with it by himself!  It was so cute!!  He would smile and giggle because he was so proud of himself and he was so happy.  And he did it all himself, I only helped him steer.
• We also had been working with him this month on walking while holding only one hand of ours.  He started doing really well!
• And we even finally got him to stand unassisted!
• But the BIG NEWS is that HE STARTED WALKING!!!  He took his first steady step last week and since then he has gotten the hang of it and has been walking around everywhere!  He's still learning and nervous sometimes, but he's doing so awesome and is pretty brave!
• He has CUTE little cheeks and I just want to kiss them all day!
• I love love love hearing the pitter patter of his feet when he walks on hard surfaces!!!!
• He still fits into 6 month clothes.  But we have some 12 month that he also wears.
• He's getting the hang of brushing teeth!  When I take him to brush his teeth he opens his mouth for me and even doesn't bite down on the toothbrush long enough for me to do a quick soft scrape of all his gums and tongue.
• When he wakes up from a nap we find him standing in his crib (sometimes crying, so sad!) and when I walk over to him he wraps his arms around me!  He gives us hugs a lot, it's so sweet!
• He's still sleeping through the night.  It's great.  And he's having two naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  They seem to be getting shorter maybe...  But he definitely needs those two naps still.
• His new trick is pointing!  He points at Mommy and at Daddy and at lights...  Sometimes he'll point and then wave.  It's so cute!
• He also makes this really cute cheesy face.  He lifts his chin and squints his eyes and shows his teeth.  We love it!
• Another new trick is getting down from the couch!  He somehow knows how to go backwards, feet first and on his tummy, to get down.  It's awesome.  He's awesome!

Eli is growing up so fast!  I'm loving every new milestone and trick and thing that makes him laugh and happy...  It's so fun watching him learn and explore and try to figure things out and see what he's interested in.  He's growing up and we love him to pieces!!!

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!!!

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!!!  :)

I Am Happy Where I Am

The first couple weeks of Eli's life were difficult for me.  All I wanted was to hold him, to keep him to myself, and I wanted him to stay exactly how he was, to never get bigger or grow up.  It would make me want to cry when people told me that he was getting big -- He was my little baby and so special to me and I wanted it to stay that way forever!

Thankfully I emerged from those baby blues.  Because Eli has been growing, getting bigger, and he's just as cute!  I don't want to crawl into a hole with him every time someone says he's "getting so big" anymore.  I still don't want him to grow up, not too fast anyway, but I have to say that as each new stage has come for us, I love it even more than the last!  He is sooo cute and so fun!  Right now he is playing with everything, rolling everywhere, smiling and laughing a TON, and his personality is really starting to show!

I hope it will continue to be this way.  I know one day down the road (probably more than once) I'll look back and think about my little baby, and miss him like this.  But right now I'm trying to find the joy in each day as it is, and enjoy every moment with him in each stage of his life, as he learns new things and will no doubt begin to teach us.  And I'm loving every minute!

We are so blessed to have Eli in our lives, in our family!  We love him to the moon and back.  :)

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Psalm 27:1

Utah Trip

At the beginning of August we took a little trip.  First stop: Utah.

 Eli enjoying his first sucker

Adam's sister is getting ready to serve a mission at Temple Square (how awesome is that?!) and she went through the temple for the first time while we were visiting.

Eli and Auntie Holly

Siblings!

Baczuk Family

Ferguson Family

Classic Ferguson Family Rank-Face Pose

Eli got to meet lots of family.  A few include:

Eli & Great Uncle Gregg

Eli and Great- Grandma & Grandpa Baczuk

Eli & Cousin (once removed) Jake

4 generations!

The other reason why we went up was because Adam's brother got married.  So happy for him and our new sis!

Second stop: Colorado

Third stop: South Dakota

Forth stop: Back to Colorado

Eli's First Cart Ride

Adam started school this week and I needed to get some things from the store.  So Eli had his first ride in the kid seat in a cart!  He had so much fun looking around at everything.  He did so well!  And he was sooo cute!  Everyone loved him!

I couldn't help walking down the aisles with my camera out.  I took so many pictures!  It was tough getting some good ones, and most of them are blurry.  He's such a cute little curious wiggler!

 

8 Months! (Baby Eli)

Eli is 8 months old today!  I can hardly believe it.  He is the best thing in our lives so far and we love him so stinkin' much!  Every day with him is a joy.

Some of the things he's been doing lately:

• Scratches at things with different material (like the couch or carpet or his play mat, etc) by opening and closing his hands on them
• Puts his top lip over his bottom lip and talks, "ba ba ba ba" or makes a popping sound
• Rolls everywhere!  Anywhere he wants to go, he rolls.  Sometimes he tries to crawl but ends up rolling over.  Or he'll move forward by rolling back and forth from one side to the other on his tummy.
• Getting really good at holding himself up on his hands.  He moves his upper body around, but just kicks his feet.
• Loves balloons!  He goes crazy for them.
• Loves tags.  He goes for the tag on every toy.
• Loves the Bumbo chair table.  If he can see it he will try to get it!  He loves to play with it, so silly.
• Some of his favorite foods: bananas, apples, sweet potatoes, popsicles, oatmeal (with fruit in it!)
• Puts his feet up on anything in range
• Still uses his feet like hands!  He holds onto things with all fours.
• Loves music
• Always wants whatever Daddy is drinking, no matter if it's from a bottle or cup or anything.  Eli loves cups and bottles, and goes crazy for them!
• We had a framed picture of our little family out from the hospital when Eli was born and he loves it!  He will roll over to it and touch our faces and give kisses to us in the picture.  It's so cute!
• We give him a diaper to play with when we change his diaper so he doesn't roll over and grab other things he shouldn't, like the cords on the blinds!
• We've been trying to teach him "kisses" for a while now, and he does them really well now!  He gives us kiss attacks!  He'll lunge at us and grab the sides of our face (or hair!) and hold on really tight and pull us close to him and stick his wide open, slobbery mouth on our face.  Sometimes multiple times in a row.  He loves us!
• Adam has been trying to teach Eli how to do high-fives, and he started doing them when prompted by Adam by himself just the other day 
• Sits up unsupported really well, but we still have to keep a close eye on him to catch him when he falls backwards
• Hates when we clean out his nose!
• Likes watching sports
• Super smiley!
• Just in the last couple weeks we graduated him from the infant bath seat to a laundry basket for bath time.  He sits up in the bath and plays and splashes -- so cute!  And he loves his rubber ducky.
• Still tries to eat anything he can get his little hands on!
• When he's sitting on anyone's lap, at some point he will try to eat their knees
• We've noticed just in the last few days that he's trying to lift himself up!  In the bath the other day he grabbed on to two sides of the basket at one of the corners and lifted himself up passed halfway!  And just this morning Adam was asking him for a high-five and Eli grabbed on to his hand with both of his and tried with all his might to lift up!
• Easily distracted by feet - Mine, Adam's or even his own!  He still sucks on his big toe occasionally
• Sleeps mostly on his tummy, or on his side.  Sometimes when we put him down for a nap, right away he rolls to his side and falls asleep!
• He had his first ride in a shopping cart in the kid seat yesterday!
• Likes to play the piano, and likes when Mommy plays
• This last month he visited his first new states (in this order): Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota & New Mexico.  Now he's been to 7 states!  (Not counting Idaho when I was pregnant... ;) )